


The Parent Trap

by CCNilesBabcock



Category: The Nanny
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2019-09-27 19:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 71,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17167955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CCNilesBabcock/pseuds/CCNilesBabcock
Summary: Parent Trap AU - Co Written w/ TheCrownedLioness Amelia Babcock and Charlotte Brightmore are strangers until happenstance unites them. The girls' estranged parents, Niles Brightmore and C.C. Babcock, are living on opposite sides of the Atlantic, each with one child. After meeting at camp, the girls engineer an identity swap. If the scheme works, it might just make the family whole.





	1. Chapter 1

**_ Prologue _ **

 “‘Ere she eez, my boy,” announced Marie Brightmore – Niles’ mother – delicately passing over the small bundle. “Your little girl...!”

Niles took the baby in his arms in a mixture of both awe and sadness. Yes, this was his little girl – Charlotte, he’d already decided, would be her name.

But she was one of two, the other of which it had been agreed he’d never see. That was the arrangement that he and C.C. had come to, after the whole...situation they’d found themselves in.

It hadn’t started off as a ‘situation’. If anything, it had begun because of a ‘situation’ between himself and Fran. Namely, a situation in which neither one was speaking to the other. But Niles hadn’t been by himself for all of that time (which, he sometimes thought, hadn’t been the good idea it had originally seemed to be). Instead, he’d found himself spending more and more time with the blonde producer; they’d gone out as friends, taken pottery classes together, played pranks as a team, instead of on each other...

And their words had taken on a... _flirtatious_ tone. So flirtatious, in fact, that they’d actually ended up going out on a date.

A single date. But that had been more than enough for them to end up in bed.

Everything that had happened after seemed to have been designed by some deity that held a grudge against him. And it had all started when he’d woken up, still blissful from a night of passion, only to realise that the other side of his bed was empty.

C.C. had obviously woken up, feeling embarrassed and ashamed at having spent the night with him, and had decided to leave before things got any further out of hand. He should have realised sooner that she would – she was the upper class, powerful, millionaire Broadway producer, and he was nothing to her. Nothing but a servant, who lived in someone else’s house for the express purpose of keeping it clean. Nothing but an insignificant butler who made less money in a year than she could make in a month.

Nothing but a mistake that she’d quickly had to fix.

With his heart breaking in two, he’d tried to go about his day after that. Fran had noticed his sour mood, and he’d suddenly found himself with a shoulder to cry on. They’d quickly re-established their friendship, and things returned to normal for them.

 Not that C.C. had realised that, it seemed. She’d come back into the mansion later that same day, trying to be all playful with him for reasons he couldn’t understand (perhaps she was intending to use him as some sort of bedwarmer, until she found a wealthy businessman that she could ensnare and intended to keep). But Niles hadn’t been having any of it – he'd coolly stepped away when she’d gone in for a hug or a kiss, or whatever she had intended on doing, and even if she’d been a little bit put out, she hadn’t taken the hint.

That had come when she’d tried to insult Fran’s clothes later that day. He’d turned around and told the producer that she was one to talk, considering the closest thing she’d ever worn to couture was on display in a museum in Turin.

Things had fallen apart after that. Their insults were back immediately, harsher and more designed to hurt, and the pranks soon followed in the same vein, growing more elaborate and better designed to humiliate.

The tension didn’t stop growing until Fran and Maxwell’s wedding, when one too many neat scotches had led to them ending up in bed again, only this time there wasn’t much in it apart from anger.

That was when everything had blown up directly in Niles’ face.

He’d woken up before her the next day, and had eventually only been able to lie there thinking about fixing things between them. And, like the fool he was, he’d tried to put that plan into practice when the producer had woken up, embarrassed and clearly remembering less of the evening than he did. She’d tried to go, but he’d grabbed her arm and begged her to stay.

And when she’d asked him why, he’d told her the truth. Again, like a fool, he’d told her that he loved her.

Of course, she’d laughed in his face, and told him that he hadn’t ever exactly acted like he’d loved her, and that she was going to pay him back for him dropping her to become Fran’s friend again - by dropping him, the “pathetic excuse for a man passing as a sub-par maid”.

And just as she’d turned to walk away, in his anger he’d told her that the biggest mistake he’d ever made was assuming that she had a heart.

That had been it for them, after that. They’d barely been able to stand being in the same room together, and their pranks had only reached a peg or two away from destroying the house around them, much to the frustration of the Sheffields.

And it had all ended, with one final call and prank.

She’d come into the office late one morning, looking pale and ill, and had left a message for Niles, asking if they could talk.

He’d set up a prank for the producer in return, which he thought he’d pulled off with aplomb, imagining that she’d get angry and then find a way of getting even, like she always did these days.

But the minute she’d tripped and fallen on the steps to the mansion (that he’d highly waxed), and then gotten back up again with tears in her eyes while he laughed in her face, all that had happened was that she’d eventually gotten angry. And, for perhaps the first time, Niles got angry back about it - it hadn’t been any different to any other prank they’d played on each other!

She’d gotten so angry at that remark that she’d slapped him across the face, and it had all ended in a fight. A fight during which she’d basically confirmed to him why she’d left his bed that fateful day – he was a loser, who lived off his employer and would never amount to anything. Then to top it all off, she’d quit working for the company.

Well, to truly top it all off, she’d then spat out that she was pregnant, letting the guilt of what he’d just done crash down over him like a tidal wave. He could have caused her to miscarry, and he wouldn’t have even known if she hadn’t told him! He could’ve...it could’ve all been his fault, that a child he’d helped to create – two children, he’d later found out – wouldn’t have existed anymore! He’d gone after her, pleading to be given the chance to make up for what he’d done, but she hadn’t listened. She’d gotten into a taxi and gone, leaving him there in front of the gaping Sheffields. And Niles had then felt so embarrassed by her openly calling him all of those things that she had before, knowing that she was right about all of them, that he had quit, too.

He’d spent the next few weeks calling her, and only getting her answering machine. He wanted – and asked, desperately – to help, to make up for what he’d almost done.

And nothing had come of it, until she had deigned call him. The arrangement she’d apparently thought they could have hadn’t been exactly what he’d wanted, either.

He hadn’t been allowed to help with her pregnancy, at any stage, beyond agreeing that he would keep one of their children. That was why his mother Marie had had to go into the delivery room to fetch the only daughter of his that he’d ever be allowed to hold.

He got little Lottie, sixty-five million dollars for her upkeep and happiness (courtesy of Babcock herself), and a threat as to what C.C. would do to him if she ever saw his stupid face again. He’d agreed to all of it, and swore to never contact either her or their other daughter for as long as he lived, with the only exception being if the child in his charge was in danger or gravely ill.

Already, agreeing to it felt like a mistake. He was a father to both girls – shouldn’t he see the other twin at least once?!

Shouldn’t he see C.C. again, at least once...?

In his heart he knew the answer was yes.

But as it was, he had no other option but to accept things as they currently were. He’d be moving back to the UK as soon as his and C.C.’s lawyers had finished drawing up the custody agreement. It was mostly ready, but a few minor details remained to be seen to. They’d agreed that each parent would have custody of one twin, relinquishing the custody of the other one.  

His other little girl...

He didn’t know her or her name, he’d never held her or seen her, but he missed her already.

And Marie knew it. She’d been the only member of his family to see C.C. during her pregnancy – the two women, oddly enough got along rather well. His mother was trying to make the plan work more easily, and had been acting as a conduit for messages throughout the entire time, but she’d also enjoyed spending all the hours that she could with C.C..

She’d also allowed Niles to keep tabs – he might not have been able to see, but he could ask. And each and every day that she went, he’d ask about how the twins were, how their mother was doing, if everything seemed to be going according to plan.

It always was, and then they found themselves where they were – a hospital corridor, far enough away from the room so C.C. didn’t have to see him, and close enough that he hadn’t had to wait too long to see Charlotte.

His Lottie, who was so small in her big warm blanket!

“She eez very like you,” Marie gave him a nudge and a smile.

Niles tried to smile back, but found he couldn’t entirely. He was overjoyed to be a father and for someone to say she looked like him, but...all the features he saw in the little one’s face belonged to C.C..

“Eet iz zhe eyez,” Marie said, looking down at the new born child. “She ‘az your eyez...”

And indeed, the little child had a pair of the brightest sky-blue eyes, a trait she had inherited from her father, who in turn had gotten it from Marie. Still, unbeknownst to Niles and Marie, there was another little person in that hospital that had eyes the same shade of blue: Amelia Babcock.

Charlotte’s twin, like Charlotte herself, was the spitting image of her mother, but she had her father’s eyes.

And said mother, who was holding her to her chest and letting her eat in peace (she’d breastfed Charlotte moments ago, before Marie took her away), was painfully aware of this.

It was like Niles were looking at her.

She thought about the irony of the whole situation. She’d spent the past months actively avoiding seeing or speaking to Niles, and yet she’d given birth to and found herself with two little replicas!

Well, one replica. The other was going with the man she found it even painful to think about.

Part of her had wanted to ask Marie how he was doing, but she’d squashed it down before it saw the light of day. He’d been a part of her life and now he wasn’t – it was as simple as that.

She kept telling herself that over and over to help it sink in. And probably to convince herself that she was right, but she wasn’t going to examine that path too quickly.

Not when the man in question was going away, and she’d never see him again.

“Well, sweetie,” she addressed her daughter. The only little one she’d been able to keep. “I guess it’s just you and me from now on...”

Amelia – her little girl’s name was Amelia – was obviously too young to respond. But eventually she’d grow, and she’d learn. She’d walk and run. She’d laugh and shout. She’d live the happy life C.C. had made sure would also be provided for Charlotte.

But she’d never know she had a sister. And her father would always remain a mystery.

Not to C.C., though. She thought about it as the nurse helped her burp the baby and got them both settled into bed (well, C.C. in her bed, Amelia in her hospital bassinet). C.C. turned towards the window, watching the world go by, and knowing every second that passed took her other little girl further away, until there’d be an entire ocean between them.

An entire ocean felt far too far, but she knew it was for the best.

And with that thought, and the image of a bright blue pair of eyes floating in her mind, C.C. drifted off into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**_ Chapter 1 _ **

_8 Years Later…_

“Now, I know I packed that extra water bottle, but are you sure you don’t need another coat?”

Lottie sighed up at her father, “Daddy, it’s the summer! I don’t need more than one coat, and I don’t even think I need the one I have!”

Niles gave his daughter a worried look. It was the same look he’d given her in some fashion for the last eight years – when she cried, when there was something she needed, when she’d hurt herself...

And now, it was making its daily appearance. It wouldn’t be around for the next few weeks – Lottie was spending them at a campsite in Maine with other children her age, and Niles wouldn’t be there to make it whilst she climbed trees and swam in the lake...

All activities which could represent danger, and he had to rely on the camp staff to keep her safe!

Well, this was one thing he could try and do to keep her safe.

“But...what if it rains more than once, and your coat is still wet from the first time?”

He knew he was being a little over the top (and he certainly wasn’t surprised by Lottie’s good-natured eye rolling), but he couldn’t help it. This was his baby girl – his little Charlotte! The most treasured thing in his life...

But at the same time, he knew she was growing up. She wanted some freedom, some space, and maybe eight weeks in America would help in that regard. She would be in a fun, controlled environment, but she would also have some freedom from life at home.

How he was going to miss her though...

She’d begged to come to this camp for months on end, and although having her so far away (an ocean away, really) would be a strain on his heart, he also knew this was making her happy.

He wanted nothing more than her to be happy.

“I’ll be fine, Daddy,” Lottie said, leaning forward to give (and receive) a tight hug.

“Write home, alright?” Niles said, sniffing; he didn’t want her to see him cry, but he was on the verge of tears already! “There are plenty of postcards, stationery and stamps in your luggage.”

He pulled away a little, so he could look at her in the eye.

“And a brand new deck of cards.” he said, beginning to smile, “Maybe you'll find someone on this continent who can actually whip your tush at poker.”

 “Maybe, maybe not,” she said. “You know just how damn good I’m getting.”

“Ah, ah – language,” he scolded her jokingly, and kissed the top of her head. “You don’t want to go spreading that around the camp, otherwise they’ll make you come back.”

His daughter laughed, before mumbling, “You’d like that.”

Niles actually thought he would, but Lottie’s happiness came first. It always would.

He used one arm to hug her tightly again, and buried his face a little in her hair.

“I’m only a phone call away if you don’t like it,” he told her. “Just say the word and I’ll be back.”

Lottie grinned as she stepped out of their hug. Niles always thought she looked so much like him when she did that, and it briefly took away some of the hurt that came in knowing she was practically identical to C.C. at every other moment in time.

“I’ll be fine,” Lottie even sounded like her mother sometimes. “See you in eight weeks, Daddy o’ mine.”

She reached out her hand as she said that, and Niles knew what she wanted them to do – they’d developed a secret handshake that only they used, and now was the perfect opportunity.

Father and daughter shared a smile before beginning their (admittedly) extravagantly worked out handshake. It had all kinds of moves in it, including a butt bump, a wave under the chin and a shimmy to-and-fro. It had taken over a month to get it right in one go!

When it was over, Niles knelt to wrap Lottie in a tight hug – the last one he would give her in a long while.

“Have fun,” he said, placing one last kiss on his girl’s cheek and pulling away.

“I will, Daddy!” said Charlotte, eager to run off with the rest of the children, all gathered around two counsellors who were ticking the name of the new arrivals of a list and giving out the cabins where each girl was supposed to sleep.

“Have fun then,” Niles said, waving his little girl off.

Lottie nodded enthusiastically and ran off, not looking back. Not even once. He felt a strange sense of... loss?... then. Was this the empty nest syndrome? It couldn’t be... could it? It was far too soon.

Whatever it was, he still wished he could make time slow up. His girl was growing, and although seeing his Lottie thriving and growing into a kind and accomplished young woman filled his heart with pride, part of him wanted her to remain his baby girl forever.

But he had to snap out of it a little – she was only eight, for crying out loud! He was going to have plenty of time with her before she went away anywhere yet, and by then he’d be so proud of her, he’d only be able to marvel at the things she was doing!

He had to let her have these weeks. They were important for letting her spread her wings.

So, taking one last glance at his little one as she ran to join the crowd of children gathering around the counsellors, he smiled to himself and started to walk back to the car.

Lottie, meanwhile, was hurrying to get to the front without shoving. She didn’t want to make any trouble – especially not when she didn’t know what the place or the people would be like!

She just wanted a good cabin, with a nice view of the lake, and some nice people to share it with.

She made it to the gathered group just in time to hear her name being called.

“Charlotte Brightmore!” called one of the counsellors – the younger one, who looked like a de-aged version of the other counsellor.

“Here!” said Lottie, raising her hand And making her way to the front of the line.

The woman – Marva Jr was her name; it said so on her name tag – smiled down at Charlotte, “Welcome to Camp Walden, Charlotte!”

“Thank you,” said the girl, “I am sorry if I was a bit late, but my plane got delayed in Heathrow due to the fog – you know how England is in June.”

Marva Jr released a small laugh, “Can’t say I do! Never been to jolly good ol’ Engerland, but welcome to the great U.S of A. and to our camp, or as we like to call it, the most beautiful spot on God’s green Earth.”

Lottie smiled. It really did feel good to be there – for some reason, going to America just felt...well, right! Like there was something there she’d been missing, that she could find in the next eight weeks.

“Thank you,” she said to the counsellor.

Marva Jr gave her a friendly tap on the arm, and looked down her list again.

“Let’s see here, then...” she mused aloud, skimming the paper with her pen. “You are in the Navajo cabin. We’ll take you all down to your cabins when everyone’s been divided into their groups, okay?”

The little girl nodded, and Marva Jr pointed her in the direction of some others who’d also been assigned that cabin, and Lottie went to introduce herself. Her Daddy had always told her to be polite to strangers. Until they gave one a reason not to be, of course.

She turned away just in time to miss the bus pulling up at the camp stop.

The door hissed as it opened, and a pair of shoes sized identically to Lottie’s stepped out, their owner thanking the driver as she tugged her backpack out over the step.

Amelia Babcock had been looking forward to this camping trip for months, too. The swimming in the lake, the nature hikes and wildlife spotting, the crafts and team building games – it all sounded so exciting, and completely different to New York

It’d been all she could talk about to her Mom, and now it was finally happening!

Unfortunately her mother hadn’t been able to drop her off that morning, but she’d given her a lot of hugs and kisses and made her promise she’d write home before she and her grandpa Stewart had seen her off at the airport.

It’d been kinda fun, being on a plane without her mother there. But they’d made sure she had a member of staff supervising her, who hadn’t left her side until she’d gotten the bus to go to the camp.

But now she was there: Camp Walden for girls! Eight fun-filled weeks were ahead, and she simply couldn’t wait to start! She’d read in the informational leaflet that the camp offered numerous sports, including fencing; she was itching to kick some ass, like her Mom always encouraged her to do. Who knew, maybe she’d also find a worthy opponent in poker.

Taking a deep breath and filling her lungs with pure Maine air, Mia rounded the bus and went in search of her duffle bag. She smiled when she saw it on top of a small pile of bags on a quad – she’d been expecting a long wait for it considering the amount of girls in that bus, but–

Amelia never got to finish her thought before the bus driver tossed half a dozen duffle bags onto the pile, burying her own underneath other people’s belongings.

Mia, wearing her favourite overalls, an oversized t-shirt and a little cap that read “girlz rule”, braced herself. She advanced towards the pile, muttering to herself.

“Okay... I can see the handles...” she said, “I just have to get it out... somehow.”

She walked around it a couple of times, studying angles and looking for weak points that might give way and free her trapped belongings.

But she couldn’t see any.

Well, there was only one thing for it. As her Mommy often said, if there’s no other way, brute force is all you’ve got.

“I can do it,” she said to herself, seizing herself for the moment and the handles of the bag to pull with all her might...

But the bag didn’t budge. The luggage on top of it felt like it weighed a ton!

She had to let go, and she stumbled backwards.

“Okay, no I can’t...”

She bit her lip, staring forlornly at her bag. How could it all be going wrong so quickly?! She’d come to have fun, not get stuck just trying to get her bag!

That was when she noticed she wasn’t alone. There was an older girl stood just to one side of her, her own duffel bag on her shoulder and chewing gum being blown into a bubble in her mouth.

The bubble popped, before disappearing back in as this new girl chewed and spoke.

“You must be new.”

Mia bit the inside of her lip awkwardly. Did she really look that out of place already?

“How can you tell?” she asked, trying to make sure she did stand out quite so much for all the wrong reasons next time.

The girl gestured casually between the pile of bags and the driver. Further down the stretch of road, other drivers appeared to be doing the same thing.

“You didn’t know to grab your duffel before the apes over there tossed it into the heap,” she explained. “I would say that you need some serious help.”

Well, it looked like she’d found herself a new friend already! And if she couldn’t get the bag by herself, then a friend was exactly what she needed.

She offered this luggage saviour a small smile, “Thanks, it’s the big pink one right in the middle, with the handles stuck out.”

The other girl nodded, and they each moved forward to take a handle.

“Alright, on the count of three,” the girl said. “One, two...three!”

They tried – and began – to pull.

But just as soon as it looked like it might start to shift, another shower of duffel bags rained down on the pile, and the driver turned back again, satisfied with a job well-done and whistling.

Both girls shot the man a dirty look, part of Amelia wishing her mother were there to scare this man into working carefully and minding others. C.C. had a way of terrifying people that Mia absolutely admired – she demanded efficiency, and if her employees failed to deliver, they knew they were in for her wrath.

“Well... I guess we are back to square one,” huffed Amelia, folding her arms over her chest. “Do you reckon we can pull it out anytime soon?”

The girls shared a look and shook their heads.

“Nah,” they said in unison.

Just then, when they were on the verge of giving up, both girls saw a strapping ten year-old in a tie-dye T-shirt, beads and a bandana around her head lumbering towards the pile of bags. She cracked her knuckles stuck her hand into the multicoloured heap of luggage, and easily pulled her duffel from the centre of the pile.

“Now that's my kind of woman,” muttered Amelia, a small lopsided smirk beginning to peek from the corner of her lips.

“Agreed,” said her new friend and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hey!” she called to the bigger girl, “Tie-Dye girl! Her duffle bag is stuck in the pile. Mind giving us a hand?”

“Sure!” the girl replied, dropping her duffle and returning to the pile of luggage, “But for the record, my name is Nicole.”

“Amelia, pleased to meet ya,” said Mia, shaking hands with Nicole. 

“Zoe,” said the other girl, joining in the handshake.

“So, which one is yours?” Nicole asked, pointing at the heap of duffle bags.

“That one,” Amelia pointed at the pink handles, barely visible under all the other bags.

Nicole nodded, and with enviable ease, she yanked Mia’s duffel out of the pile and dropped it on Zoe's left foot.

“Agh!” cried the girl, moving her foot from beneath the luggage.

“Are you okay?” asked Mia.

“That would be a negative...” wheezed Zoe, “We gotta thank her, though...”

“Don’t mention it,” said Nicole.

However, before either Zoe or Mia could reply, Nicole’s eye caught Amelia’s name-tag – in neat calligraphy, it read:

_“Amelia Babcock. No 63, E 75th Street, Upper East Side, New York”_

 “Hey! You’re from New York?” she asked.

That caught Zoe’s attention, and she snapped her head towards Mia, “You are?! Do you live near Broadway?!”

Nicole joined in, teasing lightly, “Yeah! Do you live next door to someone from some famous Broadway show?”

Mia shuffled a little awkwardly, “Well, kinda. My mom used to be a producer for those shows, but then she left to work for my grandpa’s business firm. My Uncle Maxwell is still one, though – my mom handles all the money for his plays and stuff.”

That was probably a more boring answer than the girls had expected, because they didn’t ask about it more. They just looked at each other before Nicole asked another question.

“What about your dad? What does he do?”

There was silence at that. Mia tried opening and closing her mouth several times at first, but barely anything came out.

She didn’t know her Daddy. She’d only ever had her Mom, and one picture of her Daddy that she’d found and been allowed to keep. She took it nearly everywhere with her, including on this trip. Her mother hadn’t minded.

Perhaps realising that this had created tension, Zoe changed the subject.

“Well, you’ve got your bag now – do you know which bunk you’re in yet?”

Mia shook her head, feeling grateful for the distraction.

 “Let’s go find out then!” Zoe said, helping Mia slung her duffle over her shoulder before putting an arm around her them and practically begging to frogmarch Amelia to the oldest counsellor, who was still going over the new arrivals.

“Do you guys know yours?” asked Amelia.

“Arapaho,” said both girls.

“You are bunkies!” Amelia joked.

From the looks on their faces, Mia could tell that news was a recent development for them both. And neither one of them looked thrilled at the prospect.

They approached the camp counsellor, who noticed the new arrival amongst the two already sharing.

“What’s your name?” she asked, already flicking through her list.

“Amelia Babcock.”

The counsellor, Marva Sr according to her nametag, flipped back to the start of her list, and ticked her name off.

“Looks like you’ll be in Arapaho, Amelia.”

The same as Zoe and Nicole? That sounded great! And it certainly seemed to pick their spirits up – they were starting to grin, and out of the corner of Mia’s eye, she thought she saw Nicole fist pump.

Happy about the arrangement, she exchanged high-fives with them and not long after they were directed down the path to their bunks, chatting all the way.

Mia had to ask, “So, either of you guys know how to play poker?”

Both Zoe and Nicole shook their heads.

Mia’s face, on the other hand, lit up.

“No?” she said innocently, shifting the weight of her duffel bag to her other shoulder as they made their way to the cabin, “That's a shame.  So, tell me, how much cash did you guys bring with you this summer...?”


	3. Chapter 3

**_ Chapter 2 _ **

Girls’ summer camps were, among many other things, breeders of rumours. Ergo, Gossip was a vital part of the fun available at Camp Walden, just like archery, fencing or any other outdoor activity.

Just as regular as the sun coming up every morning, new rumours would surface amongst the campers. Most gossip was short lived, but every year there were a few specific rumours that were hot topic and were discussed throughout the entire duration of the camp.

That year, the honour had been given to the two girls everyone (including the many counsellors and caretakers) was talking about: Amelia and Charlotte.

At first, everybody had thought that they were the same person, but then the inconsistencies had started to appear in their stories about the girls. One talked only about her mom. The other talked only about her dad. One was from New York and said so proudly. The other was very clearly British, and always talked about London.

It had become obvious after that – they were, incredibly, two different people who looked exactly the same!

And even after the counsellors had realised they were indeed dealing with two individuals, they kept making mistakes. They’d list them under the wrong bunks, they’d give them the wrong camp chores and even the wrong mail!

Luckily they fixed that last one before either had opened it – it would’ve been so embarrassing for the kids if another campmate had read mail from their parents!

If anyone had asked them, they’d have denied it, but secretly they wanted to get both girls in the same place at the same time. Just to see how identical they really were – well, they were obviously identical enough for people to keep confusing them, but there had to be some differences somewhere!

Two people from completely different places, who’d never met and had no connection, couldn’t possibly look that much alike when put together!

Luckily that morning both girls were scheduled for the fencing activity. They had to get together then – it would be perfect! Every counsellor would get the opportunity to see them in the same place, and they’d learn how to tell the two apart!

All the girls had just finished breakfast, and they were soon all heading down to the practice area. The counsellors couldn’t see either Miss Babcock or Miss Brightmore yet, but if they set things up just right, they could very well end up seeing them both.

The first girl to arrive, they soon realised, was the American one. She was accompanied by two of her new friends, and by the look of things, Miss Babcock had become their headman.

Her young age, it seemed, was unimportant to the older girls – what she lacked in years, she had it in personality and leadership prowess.

After announcing herself to the counsellor, Mia was helped into her fencing gear by her friends and given a shiny foil and wire-mesh mask.

“Go kick their ass!” said Zoe, patting Mia on her back.

“Yeah! Destroy them!” cheered Nicole, fist-bumping her friend.

“They won’t know what’s hit them,” Mia replied, “they are gonna be crying for their Mommies faster than they can say ‘En Garde’.”

The three girls shared a small laugh before Mia put on her mask. There was an opponent waiting, and she wasn’t willing to miss a good fight. Least when she knew this was a piece of cake.

She’d already had lessons before, and she knew how good she was. But nobody else did (apart from Zoe and Nicole) so she had the element of surprise on her side in this duel.

She came forward, assumed the stance, and prepared for the match.

It was go time as soon as the refereeing counsellor blew the whistle. And Mia, just like her mother, never wasted time when there was a task at hand.

She had never seen her mother scream at choreographers, or make lighting crews cry, or throw things at dancers because they just didn’t get those damned steps right. But if people who had were watching Mia fencing, they’d be reminded.

She was aggressive, she didn’t stop when she saw an opportunity to score a point by making a touch, and she used all her might to overcome her opponent. So it wasn’t any surprise that by the time the whistle was blown again to call for the end of the match, Mia had won by a significant majority.

And winning felt good.

She only wished that her Mommy could be there to see it happen. She’d always been so proud of all her accomplishments – all the trophies and prizes Mia won at school got a special place on a shelf in her mother’s office. And if there was a trophy or something involved in winning this fencing thing, then they’d probably have to clear space to fit something else in there...

Mia grinned to herself, and prepared to face her next opponent.

The next girl was worse at fencing than the first one was. She’d probably never picked up a foil in her life, and it showed. The match probably lasted half the amount of time the first one had, and with an even greater difference in points.

It kept on happening. Opponents would step up and have their butts handed to them soon after, one after the other.

Mia really did feel like she was on a roll. First Place was in her sights, and she couldn’t have had more than one or two opponents left to face...

“The winner and undefeated champion,” Marva Jr said, raising Amelia’s arm, “is Amelia Babcock!”

Amelia smiled and took a flourished bow to the small group that had congregated around the fencing grounds and moved back to where her friends had sat to watch the match.

“You were amazing!” Zoe said, taking Mia’s foil so her friend could rest for a moment.

“Yeah! That twerp didn’t know what hit her!” said Nicole, high-fiving Mia.

“Do we have any challengers?” asked Marva Jr.

Amelia secretly doubted anyone would dare fight her. She could see the girls around the fencing ground take a step back. Clearly they didn’t want to be humiliated.

She could already touch her tro–

“I’ll challenge her!” said an annoying voice in a British accent.

Her head snapped straight towards it, Nicole’s and Zoe’s soon following.

Out of the crowd, still wearing her mask and carrying her foil in one hand, came her challenger. Her apparently _British_ challenger, with her face still covered from her last match. Not that it mattered. If she was the only thing stood between Mia and her trophy, then she’d fight her, too.

Mia smirked, “Alright, I’ll take that challenge!”

The crowd whooped and one or two clapped, as the two girls made their way back into the duelling area.

“Kick her butt, Mia!” Nicole urged.

“You’ve got this!” Zoe agreed.

And Mia couldn’t help but think that they had to be right. No one had beaten her all day, and even though she hadn’t seen the Brit fence, she probably wasn’t that good.

And when the counsellor blew the whistle, she went in straight for the attack with a lunge. The other girl parried right away, and it was officially on.

She’d already put up more of a fight than any of the others. But Mia just kept telling herself that that would make winning feel even better.

Her Mommy would be so proud when she heard!

Not that she wanted the fight to last too long – she wanted her trophy, too. So she moved onto her next tactic, which might even had the added benefit of embarrassing her opponent a little as well.

She went to disarm the other girl.

The other girl deflected the blade.

That annoyed Mia a little bit. This British girl was better than she’d expected, and it was making her work for it more than she’d expected. But her Mommy would say that that was a good thing, and nothing worth having wasn’t fought for somewhere along the line.

Mia especially had to focus on that advice when the British girl whirled around from the deflection, lunged, and touched her straight across the middle.

A soft gasp went up around the crowd. It was the first time Mia had been a point down.

“Point for Lottie!” announced Marva, clapping a little.

Mia huffed, already picturing the cheeky smile beneath the fencing mask that her opponent was surely sporting. No matter, her good luck had run out.

Or it would, soon enough.

Taking a deep breath, Mia jumped on the Brit and struck her, right in her stomach.

“Point for Mia!”

The whole Arapaho cabin cheered at their unofficial leader, while the Brit’s – Lottie, apparently – supporters booed at her.

Time for the killing blow.

Mia lunged forward, but Lottie caught her sword and swept it in a full circle pulling them together, mask-to-mask.

With an angry grunt, both girls broke apart, and Mia charged against her opponent, who side-stepped just in time to avoid her sword and deliver her winning blow as Mia stumbled past her and head first into a water tough.

Lottie’s supporters screeched with laughter as she pulled herself out of the trough, gasping for air. She’d dropped her foil already and she glared around them all through her soaking wet mask.

The campers were still in uproarious laughter, that the counsellor couldn’t get under control by herself. Her Mommy had always told her to keep it all in, when faced with situations that required a girl to be tough. Ignoring bullies and the laughter of mean girls was like the first step, basically.

And suddenly she heard footsteps next to her, and they didn’t belong to Zoe or Nicole.

They belonged to this Lottie, whose current existence was making Mia see red.

“That was a jolly good match!” the girl sounded annoyingly cheerful. “Here, let me help you pick up your fo-aaaagh!”

Her words became screams as Mia grabbed her by the wrist and flung her into the water trough. But Lottie didn’t let go as she’d fallen, sending them both in, butt-first and in front of the whole camp and the counsellors!

The hilarity mounted for the watching campers, which wasn’t helped at all by Marva’s attempt to sound neither worried nor angry (just yet). The counsellor came forward, gesturing towards the girls as they started to angrily pull themselves out of the trough.

“It looks like we’ve got ourselves a new Camp Champ!” she declared loudly. “Miss Charlotte Brightmore!”

That was met by a round of applause from the British girl’s bunkmates, and Marva smiled encouragingly.

She gestured towards them both, “Let’s shake hands, girls!”

Neither moved. She expected them to shake hands, after everything that had just happened?!

When they didn’t move, clearly refusing, Marva gave them a special kind of warning look, “Girls...!”

That made them move. With a roll of both sets of eyes and groans of frustration, they turned to one another and removed their masks. They turned, hands extended to shake, and as they looked up into each other’s faces they froze.

Neither knew quite what to say, but both were thinking the same thing.

It was like looking into a mirror.

But they had to finish shaking hands, and as their hands touched each felt something...some kind of unidentifiable emotion pass through them. And they still hadn’t managed to speak a single word. They looked at their hands and at each other, but nothing came out!

But both knew when to retreat – it was when their friends rushed over to join them, and they both immediately shoved their hands into their pockets.

But none of their friends said anything, either – they were stunned into silence at the resemblance, too. And before any of them could be brought out of it, the lunch bell rang, sending most of them hurrying towards the Main Hall to get in the front of the line.

But a few – their closest friends – stayed, still astounded, and Mia’s eyes scanned around. She didn’t like the fact that people were looking at her like she was part of some kind of carnival act.

“Why’s everyone staring?” she said, almost through gritted teeth.

Lottie took that to mean Mia didn’t understand, “You don’t see it?”

Mia pursed her lips, “See what?”

“The resemblance between us,” Lottie explained.

Not that Mia needed it. She just hated the fact that it was true – she was nothing like this stupid, stuck-up Brit!

So she began to mock her, “Between _you_ and _me_?! A resemblance? Let me see; turn sideways...”

Lottie obediently turned, and then the other way when she was told. All the remaining friends gathered closer, and eventually Mia made her conclusion known.

“Well, your eyes are much closer together than mine. Your ears stick out, your teeth are crooked and that nose...well, don’t worry, those things can be fixed.”

Zoe and Nicole burst out laughing, but Mia waved them down so they’d quieten.

“Hang on, I’m not quite finished,” she said, sneering at Lottie. “You wanna know the real difference between us?”

Lottie puffed up her chest in indignation, “I have class and you don’t? Or I know how to fence and you don’t? Take your pick.”

A stormy look came over Mia then, and she tried to advance on Lottie then, but was suddenly met with Marva’s body in the way.

“Okay, ladies,” she declared, looking between them. “It’s time to break up this little love fest. Mia, Lottie...”

The counsellor then appeared to realise something, before becoming confused, and she turned to look at them in the opposite order to the first time.

“I-I mean Lottie, Mia...”

Both girls scowled at each other from either side of Marva.

She might’ve broken it up for now, but it wasn’t over. They’d get each other back. The “love fest” that Marva talked about was done, and the war was about to begin.


	4. Chapter 4

**_ Chapter 3 _ **

The pile of money was only growing. So much so, people were starting to run out of actual change and were substituting other things for hard cash – chocolate bars, small amounts of makeup, even a small teddy bear had been given up in the hope of being won back.

And Lottie, with a Tootsie Roll (the first she’d ever had) dangling from the corner of her mouth, was about to take it all. The other girls she’d been playing in the bunkhouse had nothing on her. Her Daddy once told her he’d enjoyed gambling a lot the years before she was born – he even had a lucky charm that never failed him.

He often got sad after talking about it, so Lottie rarely brought it up. Whatever had happened, it had led to him never gambling seriously anymore, and only playing those kinds of games with her.

This was the first time Lottie had ever played for money, and she was _loving_ it.

Even more so when she got to set her hand on the table, revealing a full house to her fellow players.

“Sorry, ladies; read ‘em and weep.”

There were collective groans and tossing of hands as Lottie wrapped her arms around her bounty and pulled it to her lap, laughing in glee at the other girl’s despair. If her calculations weren’t wrong, she’d earned around three hundred bucks in cash and another fifty in the form of toys and candy.

After two weeks at camp, she still had about eight hundred dollars left from the thousand her Daddy had given her as spending money. She also had an extra four hundred pounds “just in case”, as her Daddy had put it, and a bagful of British candy. You know, just in case she missed the candy she was used to.

But despite the fact that she didn’t need the money, she was already planning on using her hard-won cash in a nice gift for her father and grandmother. Maybe some American candy for her Mémère and a nice t-shirt for her Daddy.

Lottie tucked her earnings inside her open duffle bag. Some of the other girls had started to leave, empty-handed and with a bitter taste in their mouth after having been beaten by a younger camper.

“No more takers?” asked the Brit, sporting the trademark Brightmore half-smile and reaching for her deck of cards.

The other girls’ scowls told her all she really needed to know, but one of them made her displeasure further known.

“You’ve taken everything already,” she said, before slinking away back to her own bunk.

Lottie watched her go, eyebrows raised. It was an expression she’d learned at a young age from her Daddy, and according to her Mémère he loved to see her pulling the face so much he actively encouraged it by giving her treats afterwards.

Not that she needed any help to get treats right then! She had them all on her, and no one was going to take it away.

That was what she thought, until a single five dollar bill was tossed down into the now-empty space where all the bets had been placed.

“Not everybody,” said a voice.

Quirking an eyebrow, Lottie looked up at her apparent challenger.

Then it was her turn to scowl.

It was that insufferable Mia Babcock again, grinning all over her face like she’d already won.

Well, it wouldn’t be there for long! She would make sure of that. She’d leave her broke, just as she’d done with her bunk mates.

“Let’s do this,” hissed Lottie, placing a crumpled tenner on top of Mia’s money before shuffling the deck of cards and dealing the first hand.

Soon, both girls were surrounded by their friends, going one on one and raising the stakes. What began as a scanty fifteen dollar bet, quickly turned into a six hundred dollars and a hundred pounds bet. They simply continued to play until both Mia and Lottie were down to their last ten dollars (or ten pounds, in Mia’s case).

This was the last hand.

Lottie knew she would either make it or break it.

She didn’t even care about recovering the few hundred dollars and the hundred pounds she’d betted – again, she had more than enough cash to last her the entire summer – she only wanted to whip Babcock’s ass.

Both girls threw in their money and Lottie dealt.

“Tell you what,” Mia said, checking her hand, face expressionless. “Since we are both tapped out, I’ll make you a little deal...”

“Do tell, Babcock,” replied Lottie, barely able to hold in her joy – she had a straight! A winning hand! She would get twice the money she’d originally earned and humiliate the little American snot, all in one go.

“Loser jumps into the lake,” Mia said, a small smile beginning to form on her face. “ _Nude_.”

The gathered group of girls witnessing the match erupted in small shocked gasps and nervous giggles, but both Mia and Lottie remained impassive, merely arching their left eyebrows to signal their interest, looking all the more similar. Almost identical.

“Excellent.”

Mia huffed out a small laugh – the Brit had taken the bait. She gestured for Lottie to show her hand, which she did, now smiling openly.

“Start unzipping, Babcock.” Lottie cooed mockingly at her enemy, delighting in the slight widening of Mia’s eyes as they darted from her hand to her own, now neatly laid on the table.

“ _Damn_... you’re good.” said Mia, pulling a face.

Lottie could almost taste victo–

“But unfortunately you are not good enough.”

In a flourish of her hand that practically dripped with smugness, Mia unveiled her hand.

A cry of surprise went up around the room – some of it for a good reason, some of it for a bad reason, and some just not expecting the outcome.

Mia was holding a Royal Flush.

“Start unzipping yourself, _Princess_ ,” she smirked, making herself heard over the excited squeals and giggles of the girls watching.

Lottie gaped back at her. She couldn’t believe it! She hadn’t lost a game all evening and when she finally did, it was to that?! That American...thing, who was now collecting her winnings and pretending to fan herself with them?!

Part of Lottie felt like she should refuse to carry out the bet, but that wasn’t going to happen. If she didn’t do it willingly, she had a feeling the Babcock girl would make her. And even if she managed to get out of being made to do it, Babcock and her bunkmates would certainly never let her live it down.

The fact that they were already jeering was enough to tell her that.

No. For the sake of her dignity, she had to march out there and swim naked in the lake of her own accord.

So, summoning up the courage that her Daddy had once said all their ancestors possessed (he said it came with being a Brightmore), Lottie sucked in a deep breath and stood up.

She was going to do it. Nothing was going to stop her, and she’d shut them all up while she was at it.

Some of the looks she was getting were starting to turn disbelieving, which felt brilliant as well. She was proving so much more than the fact that she could agree to something like that. It proved she was bold, and that she did things her own way.

Lottie was well aware of the small crowd that had followed her down onto the lakeshore. Babcock was leading the way, still wearing that infuriating grin that Lottie was itching to slap off her face. Still, she forced herself to remain composed, especially when she began to undress.

This might have been the most humiliating thing she’d ever had to do, but by God she was going in. After tucking her clothes near the access to the dock, Lottie marched forward, towards the lake, teeth chattering and body ridden by goose bumps.

“Nice butt, Brightmore!” Mia called mockingly as Lottie approached the edge, making her stupid friends snigger.

Choosing not to verbally reply to Babcock’s taunts, Lottie simply perched on the edge of the dock, turned to salute her opponent, and made a perfect dive into the water.

Lottie didn’t see it, but Mia Mia´s face became impressed when she jumped, and she even clapped once – not that she felt any empathy or pity for her foe, but rather she respected her bravery. She was a worthy opponent indeed...

But even worthy opponents had to be taken down a peg or two. It’s what made them fight back – kept them worthy, and earning the title of foe. Or maybe even nemesis? Rival?

Whatever, it didn’t matter.

What _did_ matter, however, was that a certain Brit had left her clothes up for grabs by the dock.

She pointed this out to her friends, and soon enough she was creeping along as fast as she could to grab the garments, with Zoe and Nicole keeping watch on the shore. She’d been hoping for an opportunity like this. It was why she’d suggested this dare in the first place – a little chance to get the Brit back big time.

Somehow, she managed to get it all, save for Brightmore’s shoes. Mia knew how much troubled they’d be in if she let the girl cut up her own feet on the way back to the bunkhouse. They were only aiming for a wounded ego.

They took off into the night back to their own bunkhouse before Lottie broke the surface.

The girls were long gone when she did. Lottie had come up to wave to them, having missed her time in the water. She didn’t get to swim very often, but she was wonderful at it. She’d been planning on showing that off to the stupid American when she realised that said stupid American wasn’t there.

That was strange. Had they been caught by Marva, or was something else going on?

With her suspicions creeping ever more towards something else, Lottie felt the need to go back. She’d get her clothes and go back to the bunkhouse, dry herself off and keep warm.

When she got to where she’d left the garments, that suspicion she’d had before dumped itself firmly and immovably on “something else”.

Save for her shoes, her clothes were gone.

Babcock was good, she had to give her that. She played a hard game, and obviously did all she could to humiliate her opponent in the meantime. But Lottie fought hard, too. She knew her Daddy had been a master at these kinds of things, and she’d inherited that gift from him.

It was time to put it to good use, and Lottie knew just where she would start.

So, instead of getting angry or bashful about being left to run back to the main camp naked, she straightened her shoulders and back, and started to grin as she marched confidently in the direction of the bunkhouse.

“Let the games begin.” Lottie said in a whisper.


	5. Chapter 5

**_ Chapter 4 _ **

The day had been long (and it wasn’t even over yet) and _hot_. Whoever thought it had been perfectly fine weather to go on a nature hike had been so very, very wrong. The type of wrong that her mother might’ve suggested suing over, if some big wealthy business client had been involved.

But somehow, Mia’s friends were still kidding around as they made their way back to the bunkhouse. And it was obvious what they were kidding around about – it had to be on whether or not Charlotte had caught a chill after her dip.

“I swear, I could hear that girl sneezing all the way across the mess hall this morning,” she grinned, pleased that the previous night’s prank had gone so well. She relished a little in the laughter that followed, before yawning. “God, I’m tired...I’m gonna crawl back into bed and sleep until lunch.”

The bunkhouse door was in sight, but she was abruptly halted when Nicole grabbed her by the arm.

“That does not seem like a possibility...”

Confused, Mia looked at her, “Why not?”

Nicole indicated up to the bunkhouse roof, “That’s why not.”

Mia looked, and her jaw dropped.

All of the bunks were on the _roof_!

_Oh no…_

Mia stormed inside the bunkhouse, looking around for any clue as to what had happened, and how the heck the cots had gotten on the roof!

But what she saw instead only made the red mist descend more.

All their duffel bags were gone, too. And where her cot had once been, now stood a British flag, waving proudly in the wind of the open bunkhouse door.

It didn’t take a genius to work out who was responsible.

Mia narrowed her eyes at the flag, her mouth forming a scowl.

Nicole and Zoe hurried in after, gaping around.

“What happened?!” Zoe gasped.

Mia answered in one succinct word. A word that meant trouble in their bunkhouse. A word that made her friends understand there would be a revenge attack very soon, too.

_“Brightmore.”_

Zoe and Nicole mirrored Mia’s scowl.

So this was how she wanted it, right? She had declared an all-out war...

She could rest assured that she would have what she was looking for, and none of them would so much as bat an eyelid. She’d messed with the wrong crowd, and now it was time for her to be taken down a peg or two…

… or twenty.

But first, they had to find their duffle bags. Once that had been seen to, they’d be able to start planning their revenge.

Groaning and cursing under their breaths, they trailed all over the camp, looking for any kind of clue that would tell them where their things were. And the longer they looked, the hotter it got and the worse they all felt. Mia was getting more exhausted by the second, but all that did was make her angrier, and in her anger she was more determined to find her bag.

All she wanted was to lie down. No, wait - she wanted to knock Brightmore on her butt first, and then she’d lie down. Her Mommy always said that if there was a problem, you should take care of it first. Then the reward would always feel a lot sweeter.

That victory nap would practically taste of sugar. That’s how sweet it would be.

She kept convincing herself of that glorious mental image as she and her friends trudged down the path to the lake. It was the last place they had to look in the grounds of the camp.

If Brightmore had left their stuff out in the wilderness with the bears and the raccoons, then so help her God, Mia was going to get hold of Brightmore by her stupid long blonde hair and–

“Look over there!” Zoe suddenly cried, pointing out to the water. “There’s a kayak, out on the lake!”

Mia blinked, “So? There’s kayaks out there all the time.”

Nicole peered closer at where Zoe was pointing, “Not when there aren’t any people in them...”

She also started to point, and Mia came further down the path to take a look.

Sure enough, there was nobody steering the kayak – there was no one to even try! It appeared to have been pushed from the end of the jetty, to get it far into the middle of the lake.

It floated precariously, because it was piled high with… _duffel bags_.

That little...

There was a dead girl walking around camp, and her name was Charlotte Brightmore.

But before Mia could carry out any of the many mischievous revenges that were bubbling in her mind, they had to get their things back.

The question, however, was how.

The lake was too deep and their duffle bags too heavy for them to bring them to land swimming. Their things would get wet! The only idea they had, was get into the lake themselves, swim all the way to the kayak, and carefully push it back to land, taking care not to drop any of their bags into the water.

That little British twerp was _so_ dead...

But that would come later. First of all, they had to get their stuff back, and then Mia would go on the hunt for her victim.

Victory had better taste sweet, after everything she’d been through that day!

After talking it over with Zoe and Nicole, who’d first suggested going to get Marva (and had been shot down because then they’d be tattle tales and they’d never hear the end of it), they’d eventually come to the agreement that no, there were no other options but the idea they already had, and yes, it meant they were all going to have to go in the lake.

Of course, none of them had their swimsuits so they took off shoes and socks, and went in nearly fully clothed. It was just lucky it had been so hot out, they’d all decided to wear shorts and t-shirts!

The water was freezing compared to the heat of the day, and all the time they spent wading out to the kayak, Mia kept her teeth gritted.

“You are so gone once I’m back on dry land, Brightmore...!”

 “The faster we swim, the faster the twerp will be dealt with,” grumbled Zoe, “So shut up and swim…”

Mia scowled at Zoe’s comment, but said nothing. She had a point, in a way, and she didn’t fancy starting an argument when they were carrying a kayak upon which their entire possessions were precariously balanced. Honestly, if she didn’t hate the little brat so much, Mia would have praised the Brit for her evil brilliance.

Still, when evil brilliance was considered, there was no one who could dethrone her. She’d gotten it from her Mom – she could be the kindest, most lovable woman on Earth, but so help you God if you scorned her.

Eventually, they made it back to shore. They were the epitome of careful when they dragged the bags back to land, happy that no bag was wet or broken. Strangely enough, however, Mia’s bag was _… croaking_?!

And...and _moving!_

Just looking at it was sending a churning feeling through Mia’s stomach. She wanted to delay the inevitable, but she knew she was gonna have to open it at some stage, so it might as well be right then and there!

Looking at both of her friends in turn, she then bent down to grasp at and pull open the bag.

She screamed loudly at what she found inside, and jumped back.

Not just one frog. Several. There were multiple frogs inside and they were hopping all over her things, making them slimy and wet! And the little amphibians, most likely feeling the fresh air descending and craving the freedom and water just beyond their duffel prison, began to take the biggest leaps of their lives.

Mia and her friends took another leap back as the frogs started to emerge, heading straight for the water.

“Gross...!” Mia screwed up her face in disgust, feeling it spreading to anger in her chest. “The Brit is gonna pay for this! And for everything in there that got ruined by the damned frogs!”

When she was finally satisfied that her bag was no longer moving (so it must’ve finally been frog-free), Mia stormed over to examine the no-doubt ruined contents.

She suppressed an enraged scream as she looked at it all. The frogs had made a mess of – and on – everything inside!

“We are getting her back,” she growled instead. “And we are gonna do it as soon as possible!”

She had to start thinking of a plan. One so good that Charlotte Brightmore wouldn’t be able to get her back! She’d be humiliated and she’d finally learn her place in the camp!

She got back to her feet, wiped off her knees and grabbed her spoiled things.

“Let’s go,” she told Zoe and Nicole as they slung their own bags over their shoulders. “We’ve gotta start planning our revenge.”

Zoe and Nicole followed without uttering a word – they knew when Mia meant business.

Charlotte Brightmore would rue the day she’d decided to mess with Amelia Babcock.


	6. Chapter 6

**_ Chapter 5 _ **

The march to the isolation cabin felt endless.

Mia glared at the dirt almost the whole way, too. The only time she didn’t was when she was turning that glare on the Brit. Her new cellmate, she thought to herself bitterly.

She couldn’t believe it had all gone wrong like it had! Everything had been set out perfectly, and now she was lugging her still-not-clean duffel bag across the camp, watching Lottie do the same, and stewing inside because she knew they were going to the same place!

And, all the while, Marva walked purposefully behind them. The entire camp was following her, too. The counsellor had said that it was so the other girls could see what was going on and understand how things were going to work from now on, but Mia suspected that humiliation was simply part of the punishment.

“We’ve got six weeks left at camp, and you two are going to spend every glorious one of them together,” Marva announced. “You’ll eat together, bunk together, and do all your activities together. Either you’ll find a way to get along, or you’ll punish yourselves better than I ever could.”

Mia was certain it was gonna be the latter. She was not going to make friends with the Brit - it was all her fault in the first place!

If only she’d gone into the cabin first...!

After the duffle bag incident, it hadn’t taken Mia long to come up with a plan to get her revenge against the stuck-up Brit. It had taken them only two days and a midnight heist to the camp’s cafeteria to prepare their prank.

They’d acted during the swimming competition, when the entirety of the camp had been at the lake, watching as the swimmers fought for the gold medal. In record time, they’d set up a number of booby traps around Charlotte’s cabin, including confetti on their ceiling fan’s blades, balloons full of honey and suspending them from the ceiling in a very loose net, and polishing the floor so highly that it was practically an ice skating rink.

And the last part of that had been the perfect way of setting the whole thing in motion. When Charlotte came in, she was to slide across the floor, and get caught on a string pull trap, causing the net to fall and thereby releasing the honey balloons like wasp-attracting water bombs. The string trap would also trigger a little mechanism (a precariously perched tin can) by the ceiling fan switch, which would turn on and release the confetti.

It was a masterpiece of a plan. Mia had praised herself for being a genius, and had imagined the look on the Brit’s face as she was unceremoniously led from the bunkhouse to the shower block, in front of everybody, and drawing in all the local wildlife in the vicinity.

But she hadn’t bet on the Brit seeing them hanging around before the competition, and asking the counsellors to go into the bunkhouse to check that everything was alright.

If the circumstances had been different, Mia would’ve laughed at how ridiculous the two Marvas had looked when they inched themselves out, brightly coloured and sticky with honey.

But circumstances were as they were, and soon both girls had been pulled from their next activities to stand in front of Marva’s desk, whilst the counsellor paced up and down and gave them a very stern talking to.

Though it had been hard to take her seriously. She’d used a wet towel to wipe off what honey and confetti mixture she could, and her feet had squelched when she’d walked.

“ _That_ was the most revolting display of hooliganism ever to take place on these hollowed grounds,” she’d told them sternly.

Both girls had only been able to stare at their shoes. They were in the middle of a war, but didn’t want anybody else to get hurt over it!

Mia would have much rather preferred it if the intended target was the victim in the outcome. Taking her down a peg or two was practically a public service!

Before they’d known it, they’d been sent to pack their bags. Initially, they’d both been afraid that Marva would send them back home, but they’d eventually been told their penance: they would have to spend the remaining six weeks in the Isolation Cabin, with only one another for company.

It was a fate worse than death, really.

They’d also been prohibited from participating in any activity (apart from meals, of course) for the next three days. Ergo, they’d have to spend 72 hours locked up in their cabin, _together_.

Gosh, this was going to be torture!

Eventually, at the oldest of the two Marvas’ command, the campers came to a halt at the base of a steep, winding staircase. At its top, lay the isolation cabin. It was smaller than the other ones, but they had to admit it didn’t look any less comfortable. Still, it loomed over them, as if it were Alcatraz herself waiting for them rather than a cosy (albeit lonely) cabin.

Had Al Capone or George Kelly felt this way when they’d arrived at the prison to serve their punishments?

“This,” Marva Sr screeched, pointing at the cabin, “better teach you two a lesson.”

Mia almost said “it won’t” out loud, but she stopped herself. As much as she wasn’t going to enjoy doing time with the tea-drinker, she’d like her mother’s mood upon hearing that she’d been sent home early even less.

Marva Jr escorted them up the steps to the door of the cabin, the entire camp still watching and occasionally being shushed when the hilarity of it all became too much.

The counsellor opened the door for them, gesturing inside. The girls took it as an invitation (of sorts), and both ended up trying to go through the door at once!

It was truly lucky that Marva Jr had been there, because she managed to pull them apart again. She gave the both of them an apologetic but disappointed face, too. It was kind of face that said _“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have to”_ and _“You know it was your fault, really”_ at the same time.

“You’ll thank us for this,” she told them as they at long last went inside. “You’ll see...!”

Again, Mia doubted that very much, but the door closed behind them before any chance for a reply was given.

They could hear the cheering of the other campers as each took a bed (Mia preferring the one nearest to the window, whilst Lottie opted for the one opposite to it); Marva Sr had allowed them to continue with their day.

In the cabin, the atmosphere was drastically different.

For starters, a tense silence reigned within, interrupted only by the faint noise made by the girls’ duffle bags being unzipped. Neither dared to look at each other, but at the same time they were acutely – even painfully – aware of even the tiniest of the other’s movements.

It was infuriating.

Mia began to take out her shirts, noticed Lottie doing the same and switched to taking out her books instead. They might’ve looked alike, but she’d be damned if they were going to move and act alike as well!

She stopped what she was doing to check on her books’ front covers. There was still some mud that wouldn’t come off from the other day, and she very nearly broke the silence between the two girls to complain about it

She could so easily yell about it, and how it was all her fault...

But she wasn’t about to be the one who cracked under the pressure. Especially not only five minutes after arriving! No sir, Mia was keeping to her word, and she was gonna do everything possible to keep herself from speaking to Lottie as if they might be friends.

If Lottie did the same, as Mia suspected would happen, it would be a whole lot easier, too.

Their rivalry wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot.

Seeing that Lottie was no longer doing anything that Mia thought she might do in the next few minutes, she returned to putting her shirts away. Then, all her shorts and pants went away, as did her socks and underwear. She finished it up with lining her shoes up under her bed, like her Mom had always taught her to do.

Then, when she was sure the Brit was distracted by reading a book on her cot, Mia took out the valuables that she had with her, and hid them in various locations around her side of the cabin.

Who knew what the Brit would go through, if she was left alone with all of their stuff? It was far better to be safe than sorry.

Her money was the first thing she hid (she didn’t want the Brit getting any ideas about recovering the money she’d swindled out of her during their infamous poker match). Then, she continued with the little jewellery she’d brought and the brand new mobile phone her Mom had gotten her for her birthday. Lastly, she slotted her treasured memory box between her cot and night table. She’d worked on this box for the past year and a half, filling it with meaningful mementos, trinkets and keepsakes, including the only picture she had of her father…

She’d nipped it from an old attaché case her mother had stashed away in the attic, alongside tons of old paperwork and playbills from all the shows she and Uncle Max had produced before she’d been born. Amelia loved the picture for various reasons: first and foremost, it was the one and only picture she had of her father. She’d literally scouted around the entire house and every single box in the attic for information about her father, but her meagre reward had been just that one picture.

And she’d had to make do.

The second reason as to why she loved said picture, was because her parents looked so… happy in it. Like they were the greatest team on Earth and were ready to take the world by storm.

In the picture, her Mom was sitting on the arm of a bergère (a kind of upholstered French armchair) smiling warmly at the camera. Leaning against the side of the chair and close to her Mom, was her father, blue eyes glinting and mischievous half-smile firmly in place.

It was a smile that Mia recognised as her own – something she and her father shared.  

Her mother had eventually realised she had it and allowed her to keep it. She’d also had to surrender some information about her father, for Amelia had practically pleaded with her for it. She’d learnt her father’s name was Niles, and that he was British. Apparently, they’d worked together for many years before she’d come around…

They’d liked to toss jokes at one another, and play pranks where they could. It had become their rhythm, like a dance only the two of them knew. And just from the way she talked about it, Mia knew her mother had been happy. No one thought about their own memories like that if they didn’t.

But when Mia had tried to ask further – what had happened that meant they didn’t like each other anymore? Was that why he lived in another country? Did she love him? – C.C. hadn’t said a word, clearly upset and angry at the whole situation, and Mia had begun to suspect that she’d never really know.

She hadn’t tried asking again after that. If her mother didn’t like it, she wasn’t going to get answers. And even if she did find out any more, she had no way of contacting him directly.

Her father was out there, somewhere, and she’d never be able to contact him.

Feeling a familiar tug at her heart, Mia reached for and opened the box to quickly check on the photo. She wouldn’t want it to get damaged...

She rummaged around it, removing pictures of her mother, of her Grandpa Stewart and Grandma B.B., of her Uncle Max and Fran and her cousins Eve and Jonah and of her Uncle Noel. Beneath them all, she found her parents’ picture, as good as new.

 She softly stroked her Dad’s face – she’d taken to doing so before going to bed –and silently wished that, somehow, he was thinking about her. Then, as usual, she buried it beneath her other loved ones and put the box away.

Lingering was something she didn’t like doing. It made her heart ache.

Call it happenstance or fate, but just as Mia finished hiding her memories, Lottie’s phone rang. And soon the identity of the caller was making the former burn with envy…

 “Hi, Daddy!”

 _Her dad_. Of course it was her dad – Little Miss Perfect Brit over there probably got everything she wanted in life, and had everything a little girl could ask for. And that would obviously include two loving parents, who didn’t live an ocean apart, who spent time with their precious little one, and who could answer properly when asked if they loved the other.

Lottie was beaming all over her face, “Yeah, it’s all going fine here...!”

Mia rolled her eyes. Sure, she was going to pretend that they weren’t doing time together, in case her Daddy came back and made her go home. Mia already knew her Mom would flip. But the aching longing to have a dad, even to tell her off for not being better behaved with the other campers, was strong.

She sat herself heavily down on her bunk, listening in burning jealousy at the oh-so-special “Daddy-Daughter” moment going on just a few feet away.

“We’ve done loads of things!” Lottie clutched the phone like it was her real father, and she wasn’t gonna let him go. “We’ve been swimming, and hiking...”

Mia silently mimicked her brief anecdotes, complete with mocking facial expressions.

It didn’t really get rid of the tightness spreading in her chest at the impossible thought of being able to tell her own father about all the things she’d done - not just at the camp, but in her life!

She wanted her father. She wanted to be given piggyback rides, and to be tucked up in bed by him at night, and to have him close by so that she could tell him about her school and her friends. She wanted him to be there, and to love her like a father should love his daughter.

And the fact that she knew she couldn’t have it was unfair.

“Yeah, I made a few friends,” Lottie replied to an unheard question, turning away from Mia as she said that.

Mia scoffed quietly. Sure, the Brit had made friends. She’d also made herself a lifelong enemy who probably wouldn’t be invited back to jolly ol’ England for a spot of tea and some cake.

“I can always ask,” Lottie continued. “Their parents might not like them going so far away, but they do have next year’s holidays...”

Mia wondered if she’d come back next year. If this whole experience was anything to go by, she doubted it. That went doubly so if any of it got back to her mother, which it would.

So the Brit would win again – she’d get stuck at home doing nothing while her mother was at work, and Brightmore would get to live it up at the camp!

Between that and having a dad, she truly did get everything.

She wanted to go home… she wanted to get the hell out of camp, away from the Brit with a father and away from the crappy six weeks that were ahead of her. She wanted to call her Mom and have her pick her up and take her back to New York…

But she knew it wasn’t possible.

Her Mom would want to know why she was having a bad time and then all hell would break loose. Not the best of prospects, if Mia was being honest.

Ultimately, the only thing she could do was suck it up. She’d only have to tolerate three days of joint solitary confinement in this hellhole and then she’d be free to go and have fun with her friends – although she’d still have to spend time with Lady British McBratty over here during the official activities, as Marva Sr had said.

Huffing out a sigh, Mia curled up in a ball and reached for her own phone. She was pleased to find her Mom had sent her a text asking how she was doing…

She had to lie a little bit. Her Mom would never find out – by the time they saw each other again, it would’ve all blown over. It felt bad now, but in the end she was making the right decision.

So, she sent a text back.

_**“Doing fine, the camp is really cool.X”** _

Within the space of a minute, she had several more texts from her mother asking her about activities and if she’d made any friends. Standard parent stuff, just like the Brit was relaying to her dad on her phone.

She replied to them all – about the hiking and canoeing, and Zoe and Nicole. Her mother must’ve been on a lunch break from work because she got to read and reply to them all.

It made Mia feel a little happier. She always had her mother, no matter who else she didn’t have.

But the conversation couldn’t last much longer than that – her mother had to get back to work. So, with a final text saying how much she loved Mia and would talk to her again soon, she left for the time being.

Sighing, Mia lay back down on her cot, not saying a word, and listened to Brightmore hung up the phone and lie down, releasing a self-satisfied sigh.

That only made Mia more determined not to talk.

She wasn’t going to try and be friends with a stupid, stuck-up, bratty Brit! She was going to remain silent, and think about how she’d get to be with her friends again at the end of it.

Even if the end did seem very far away.

Unbeknownst to her, as she let her eyes dart around the bare walls and minimal furniture, Lottie was thinking roughly the same thing. All she had to do was make it through this little ordeal and then everything - her cabin, the people she spent time with – would all be alright again

And then, when they both accidentally caught each other’s expressions across the cabin and had to immediately look away, they both had the exact same thought.

They were kidding themselves. It was going to be a long three days.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**_ Chapter 6 _ **

The third day sky was so dark outside, anyone could’ve sworn it wasn’t the early afternoon. The thick, black storm clouds had rolled in just before lunch and were now dropping the equivalent of an entire reservoir on the unsuspecting camp.

Being confined to a cabin because of rain was one thing. Mia thought that being kept in a forest prison and having Brightmore as the only form of company throughout was completely another.

Not that she would admit it, but the time spent locked up was starting to get to her. She wasn’t one for staying indoors for long, and practically seventy-two hours of confinement was the longest she’d ever been without going out!

It was making her feel... blue.

Awfully blue.

And the rain wasn’t helping.

Still, the little natural phenomenon didn’t seem to be bothering the tea-drinker – being a seasoned connoisseur of crappy weather had made her immune to it, Mia supposed.

She was on her bed at the moment, playing Solitaire, and looked bored out of her mind.

And it was just as well.

Mia had tried reading, drawing, completing her puzzle books... but nothing had seemed to entertain her. So, heaving a defeated sigh, Mia reached for her Memory Box and pulled up the lid – looking at her pictures always put her in a good mood.

Gently, she removed the first one: her and her grandparents at Disneyland – the look of disgust on her Grandma B.B.’s face was priceless.

Many more pictures followed: her and her Uncle Noel having ice cream, the whole family at her Mom’s 40th birthday, her own birthday last year, her after having won First Place at her school’s Science Fair...

They were all beautiful memories.

Memories she treasured.

Just as she was about to reach for her most cherished picture (that of her father, of course), a strong gust of wind swept into the room, sending the entire contents in her box flying all over the place.

Gasping aloud, she scrambled off her cot and down onto her knees. She desperately grabbed at the things – the things she cared most about – still being blown about the room.

What if any of it got lost, or damaged? What if she lost the only picture she had of her Dad?!

That thought, combined with her blueness, was enough to make tears well up in Mia’s eyes.

“No!” she cried out, pulling what she could back to her. It wasn’t all of it, though. “Stop it! Stop! Please!”

But the wind wasn’t dying down (Mia didn’t know who she was begging, or why) – it was coming through an open window which until now had gone unnoticed.  And she could see her father’s picture heading straight for it, being slowly sucked out by another gust.

She’d never get there in time, and she’d probably ruin her other things by stepping on them, but it barely registered as she tried to pull herself up and run.

But she didn’t have to.

Brightmore had seen, and had rushed from her own bed to shut the window. She held it fast until the gust had passed, and then without really looking at them she began to pick up Mia’s photographs and trinkets that had rolled on the floor.

Mia could only gape in return. Out of everybody she’d met so far at this camp, Charlotte Brightmore was the least likely to come to her rescue!

And yet, there she was – stood in front of her, having dropped the trinkets on her bed and having sorted the photos back into a pile. She held them out to Mia.

“Here,” she said quietly, apparently trying hard to not be weird or awkward about it. “I’d have hated myself if I’d lost a box full of family pictures.”

Mia bit back a frown. Well, it looked like the silent treatment was over and they had to talk again!

“Uh...thanks, I guess,” she said, taking the pile and turning them over to look at them.

Lottie cocked her head to one side and pulled a face. Weirdly, Mia thought of her Mom when she did it.

“Are any of them damaged? Like waterlogged, or anything...” the Brit asked, gesturing to the pile.

 

Mia quickly inspected them, “No, they look okay...”

“Brilliant,” replied Lottie, stooping down to reach for Mia’s empty box and handing it to her. “Here you go...”

“Thanks,” muttered Mia, unsure of what to do next – what else was there for her to say? It wasn’t like she was ready to trust Brightmore, but she’d helped...

That had to count for something, didn’t it?

For the next few tense instants, silence reigned in the cabin as Mia got down on her hands and knees to gather her remaining pictures.

Much to her surprise, the Brit followed suit.

They worked in silence, occasionally exchanging a glance, almost as if this new territory was putting them both a bit on edge. Lottie, being naturally neat and tidy, gathered the pictures into a perfect stack, discreetly scanning the pictures she found before setting them in place.

Up until then she’d been able to avoid thinking much about it, but the more pictures she saw of Babcock, the more obvious the resemblance between them became. It was just uncanny how alike they were! It was like watching herself in a mirror...

She couldn’t make sense of it, even as she scrutinised a picture of a newborn Amelia in the arms of an elderly couple.

“Are they your grandparents?”

Mia looked at the picture, and the corners of her mouth turned up.

“Yeah. That’s my Grandpa Stewart and my Grandma B.B.,” she pointed to each of them in turn. “My grandpa runs a big business in New York – the one my mom works for. And my grandma loves to wear designer clothes and go to nice parties.”

The fact that she missed them was evident in her voice. But talking about them helped, for some reason. And for another unknown, equally odd reason, Brightmore listened.

It got to the point where Mia had told her all about them, and all there was really left to do was ask her in turn.

“What about you? Do you have grandparents?”

Lottie gave kind of a sad smile in return, “Just one – my Grand-mère Marie. She’s really nice, and looks after me a lot.”

Mia’s eyebrows raised, “Grand-mère? Is that French?”

Lottie nodded, “Yeah, she is French. My Grandad Joseph was English, but he died when I was very little so I don’t really remember him.”

“Oh,” Mia bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

Lottie shook her head, “It’s alright. It happened a long time ago, so...”

She trailed off, and Mia felt like she ought to say something to fill the silence.

“Do you have your other grandparents, though?” she asked. “You only mentioned one set...”

Lottie seemed to take a moment to think about that, but then she shrugged.

“I suppose I must have, somewhere,” she said. “Or maybe I did. My parents split up when I was little as well – even smaller than when Grandad Joseph died.”

Oh...

That new little piece of information surprised Mia. So her parents were not together... plenty of her friends and classmates had divorced parents, but for some reason she wouldn’t have imagined that Brightmore’s family was anything less than perfect.

Clearly she’d been wrong.

“Mine split up too,” replied Mia, “but my Mom doesn’t really like talking about my Dad.”

Lottie nodded, almost as if she understood where Mia was coming from. It seemed they were more alike than they’d previously imagined.

“My Daddy doesn’t talk about my Mum either,” said Charlotte, reaching to examine a picture of Mia and her Uncle Noel building a sand castle. “I suppose it makes him sad. Is this your Dad?”

She gestured at Noel as she spoke.

Mia shook her head, “Nah, that’s my Uncle Noel. He’s my Mom’s brother. I, uh...don’t actually have a dad in my life.”

“Oh,” Lottie pursed her lips at the picture and then looked up at Mia. “Sorry.”

Feeling tension starting to grip at her insides, Mia shook her head.

“It’s okay, I guess,” she mumbled. “It’s just...hard. Even if they’re not together I wish I got to be like other kids with divorced and split up parents, you know? Maybe living with one or the other, but still seeing both. I guess that’s what you have, right?”

She expected her to say yes, that’s how it was. She lived with her dad but she still got to see her mom regularly, and they went out and did the usual things parents did to bond. So she could go shopping with her mom and maybe go to the park with her dad, and at the end of the day she’d go home with just one of them. No trouble or anything, just fact.

Mia envied even having that.

But that wasn’t what Lottie ended up saying.

“Um...no, not really,” she answered awkwardly. “I live with my Dad, but I’ve never actually met my Mum.”

That surprised Mia even more than finding out Lottie’s parents weren’t together.

So, they were practically in the same situation! Lottie’s mom had gone away, just like her own dad had. It hurt a little bit, to think that there were parents out there who just didn’t want their kids, but it also made her even more grateful for her Mom.

When she got out of camp, she was gonna give her the biggest hug she could.

“Oh,” she blinked, not quite sure what to say about that. “So, we’re just both here, only one parent each...”

“Yeah, I guess we are,” Lottie replied lamely. After a small silence, she asked a question she’d clearly been dying to. “What’s it like, having a mum? I mean, is your mum a real housewife type, with the cooking and the cleaning and always wanting to hear about your day, or is she more of a work-focused, always-do-your-homework type?”

Mia snorted out a little laugh – the idea of her Mom being a stay-at-home kind of mom was outlandish, to say the least. Her Mom and work went hand-in-hand, in Mia’s mind.

“She definitely falls into the second category,” said Mia, finding Charlotte’s curiosity somewhat amusing, but at the same time she understood where she was coming from. Mia was the same where fathers were concerned.

“So she is a working mum then,” said Lottie.

“Yep. She works for my Grandpa in the family company. She’s been serving as CEO since he retired,” said Mia, flicking through her pictures until she found the one she was looking for – it was her and her Grandpa Stew sat in Stew’s old office. She was on his lap, holding a cake that had ‘ _Happy Retirement!_ ” written with icing.

“Here,” said Mia, handing over the picture to her bunkmate, “This was Grandpa’s last day at work. Mom snapped the picture.”

Lottie couldn’t help the small smile on her features – it would have been nice to have had a grandpa too, and this man looked like the kind of grandpa that loved to spoil his grandchildren...

“I spend a lot of time with my grandparents,” Mia continued, looking for a picture of her Grandma B.B. and handing it to Lottie, too. “Mom spends most of the day at work, but she makes sure to be back home when my school’s over. Grandpa and Grandma usually pick me up, though, and drive me home.”

Lottie nodded, “Yeah, my Grand-mère does that for me as well. My dad owns a fancy restaurant in London, so he sometimes has to work late. So she’ll cook dinner and we’ll watch movies and play games, until Dad gets back.”

Mia thought about it, and decided she couldn’t fully imagine Grandma B.B. cooking anybody dinner, or playing games, or even relaxing to watch a movie. She was more of a “let’s go shopping” kind of grandma. Still, Lottie’s grandma sounded cool, even if she wouldn’t trade her own grandmother for anything.

“That sounds...nice,” she actually began to smile. “Is your dad like my mom? Does he work a lot as well?”

Lottie tilted her head from side to side, like she was weighing up options.

“Not exactly. He works, but he prefers being at home with me,” she said. “We go out on trips, he reads to me at night, we relax indoors. He even loves to bake, and he’s teaching me about cooking. We do that every Saturday.”

Mia felt a pang of jealousy.  She’d have loved to have a Dad who did all of those things with her – none of her family were big on baking (the making of, that is; they’d happily sample pastries from all over the world). She got nice lunches with her mom, and her mom also brought home things from the nearest bakery to eat, but it wasn’t the same.

It wasn’t like making something together.

“Oh...” she tried very hard not to look sad. “That must be good.”

“It is,” Lottie nodded some. She looked like she was trying not to look sad, either. “But it’d be nice to have a mum, too. Someone to go shopping with other than Dad or Grand-mère Marie. Someone I could talk to about anything and know it wouldn’t be awkward...”

She sighed and trailed off again, looking towards the floor.

“But, I make the best of what I’ve got,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade my Daddy for anybody.”

Mia agreed. Despite her longing to have a father, she wouldn’t change her mother for the world. She was the best mother she could have ever asked for. She’d loved her and cared for her better than anyone else, and she deserved praise for that. She imagined it was the same for Charlotte, only with her father.

How strange, in a way...

 Both she and Charlotte were extremely alike in ways they would have never imagined.

“And I wouldn’t trade my Mom...” said Mia. “Even if I’d love to have a father, too.”

It surprised both girls just how open they were being about what was probably the heaviest and most painful burden they carried around. They both craved for what they couldn’t have, and couldn’t help but wonder...

Wonder what it would be like to have their family together.

Wonder why it had fallen to pieces in the first place.

“Did your Dad ever tell you...?” blurted out Mia after a few instants of thoughtful silence. “Why your Mom left?”

The other girl shook her head no.

“Not really. I tried to get him to tell me, but he wouldn’t budge,” replied Charlotte, frowning, “Not even when I strategically asked him about it on my birthday last January – I thought that maybe he would—”

“I was born in January, too!” cried Mia, “On the January 15, 2000!”

Lottie’s mouth dropped open.

“You’re joking,” she said. “Me too! I was born on the 15th of January as well! Same year and everything!”

Mia looked at her seriously, half-way to gaping, “I’m not kidding! That’s such a weird coincidence!”

But even as Mia said those words, Charlotte was thinking. The American girl had a mother but no father. She herself had a father but no mother. Neither of them had ever met their other parent...

It couldn’t be, could it? That would be too weird, and impossible!

But she couldn’t deny the fact that it was already strange enough, as it was. She needed to investigate more, to get answers.

“Mia,” it must’ve been the first time she’d called her by her name. And if it wasn’t, it was the first time she’d done it nicely. “Do you have a picture of your dad, at all?”

Mia went through the little pile of photographs again.

“Yeah, I’ve got one here, somewhere...”  she muttered a little bit as she searched. “My Mom let me keep it, after I found it in the house. It’s the only one I have.”

She put down part of the pile, having gone through it without finding the picture. Her eyes went from the pictures to Lottie, briefly.

“What about you? Do you have a picture of your mom?”

Lottie nodded, got up and went to her duffel bag, “Yeah, I’ve only got one as well. It’s right in here...”

After a few moments of rummaging around, she brought out a picture frame. It seemed fitting with everything Lottie did that she kept the photo in a frame, even though they were in the middle of nowhere.

She must’ve wanted to keep it nice, which Mia understood. She would’ve cried if her Dad’s picture – the only picture she’d ever have of him – had been ruined in the bad weather.

She brought it back, to show Mia.

“Apparently her name is C.C., and she lives in New York City.”

And suddenly, everything felt like time had slowed down, and Mia could hear the blood pumping in her own head.

She...she couldn’t have heard that right! She couldn’t have just heard Charlotte Brightmore, kid from across an entire ocean, say the same name as her mom?!

 

It wasn’t like there were a bunch of women named “C.C.” running around New York, either! The city might’ve been big, but Mia had never met anyone else with her mother’s name!

She must’ve looked off in some fashion, because Lottie was staring at her in confusion, her photograph still clutched in her hands.

Mia could barely make the words come out when she finally opened her mouth.

“Wh...what did you just say?”

“Never mind about that; are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” replied Lottie instead, eyeing at her with worry. The American had gotten whiter that paper in the space of a few seconds.

Mia, meanwhile, could only agree – it was almost as if she’d seen a ghost. One she’d believed would never see in her lifetime, and it had brought a few more in tow.

“My Mom...” Amelia eventually stuttered, unsure of what to say or how to react.

“What about her?” asked the Brit, who was growing concerned about the current state of her bunkmate’s health.

“She’s also called C.C....”

After those words were said, Lottie instantly understood what was the matter.

She’d always thought that C.C. was an unusual name. Part of her had wondered if that was magnified by the way her father said it – he always made it sound special on the rare occasions that he did. But she’d also never imagined meeting another person with that name.

She’d dismissed her own unspoken theory before, but it was becoming harder and harder to ignore it at the same time.

Though she obviously still couldn’t be sure! There was still a chance that it was all a huge coincidence.

And there was one way she could clear it up, once and for all. Her father had an unusual name, too – it would stand out a mile away!

With the same nervousness as Mia had when asked what her mother’s name was, Lottie asked her a question.

“What...what’s your father’s name...?”

The reply was near-enough immediate, but it felt like it was taking a lifetime to register in her mind.

“His name’s Niles...”

Lottie had to sit down, before she fell down. At the risk of sounding American (or half-American, as something in her head helpfully reminded), she could only think “Oh, boy...”

Her theory was correct, wasn’t it? As weird and impossible as it might’ve been, there was no other reasonable explanation. Well, if there was one, it involved duplicate families who knew nothing about each other! But how could it be anything else, at this point?

They were each missing what the other family had.

Their parents’ named matched up perfectly.

They looked exactly alike, and were even born on the same day...

All they needed to do now was look at the photographs they both carried. It would either confirm what was starting to seem truer than ever, or it would have all been revealed to be one huge mistake.

Mia saw the way she’d slumped when she sat, and she blinked at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding like her mouth was starting to go dry.

Lottie looked at Lottie in the eye, maybe for the first time since they’d declared the other their arch-nemesis. They both had the feeling that their rivalry was about to become past history, and if what they suspected was true, their relationship would soon take a hundred-and-eighty degree turn.

Their entire world would give a hundred-an-eighty degree turn if this was true.

“I... I am not sure if there is something wrong,” replied Lottie, her throat dry and scratchy and heart beating faster than that of a hummingbird.

“Then... what... what is it?”

Lottie gulped, and looked down at the picture she was holding – her mother, sat on an upholstered chair and smiling brightly at the camera. It was the only picture she had of her mother, and she’d found it in her father’s study, stashed away in the back of a drawer in his antique carob desk.

She’d never had a mother. The mere idea of one was... a dream. Something she’d craved for but ultimately could never be.

But maybe... maybe this was the opportunity she’d prayed for. The chance to actually have and meet her mother.

It was the moment of truth.

“My Dad’s name is Niles,” Lottie said in a whisper, feeling a lump forming in her throat. “And this, is my Mum.”

As she spoke, she turned the framed picture to Mia.

Who in turn was so surprised that her jaw dropped, and without thinking she had taken the picture to get a closer look. Lottie looked like she was in too much shock to stop her.

It was her. That was her mother (their mother?!) almost exactly the same as she’d always been! She was little younger, maybe, but that was about it!

“That’s her...” Mia nearly whispered. “That’s my Mom...!”

She then picked her own photo out of the pile, and showed it to Lottie.

“Does he look familiar to you at all?”

Silence filled the air, filling it until it was almost like you could touch it - and then Lottie finally spoke.

“That’s my Dad,” she told her. “You have a photograph of my dad...”

“You have one of my Mom!” Mia almost completely echoed, before apparently thinking. “And we look and talk alike, we have a single parent each, and they have the exact right names! It’s like...you and I are like...sisters.”

No... they were more than that.

A lot more than that.

Hours ago, neither would have imagined that they’d ever find their missing parents, and yet now...

Now they were stood right in front of each other’s twin.

They were twins.

“We are not sisters,” Lottie choked out, the lump lodged in her throat preventing her from speaking too much and for long, “We are... we are _twins!_ ”

Maybe the act of saying it aloud was what let their emotions loose, but before either girl knew it, they both of them were clinched in the tightest embrace they’d ever given, and were weeping tears that they weren’t certain if they were born out of joy or out of overwhelming sadness for all the years spent apart.

In all this time... they’d had a sister out there, and neither had been told. And it was only thanks to fate and more than a considerable amount of luck that they’d found one another.

They’d found their family.

A family, which might’ve been an ocean apart for reasons they didn’t know, but was theirs nonetheless. They didn’t know why their parents had chosen not to be together, but now they knew they couldn’t be separated.

They had parents! Both parents! And had any grandparent a kid could wish for!

They released each other from the embrace eventually, sniffing and crying still.

“You...I...I have a twin!” Mia still had tears streaming from her eyes, and she was nearly yelling in her happiness. “I can’t believe this!”

It was impossible to think, Lottie had to agree. But it was true, and it wasn’t going away.

“I know,” she said, wiping the tears from her own eyes. “I never would’ve guessed!”

Their parents had been holding this back from them! But why? Didn’t they want their daughters to know that they had a twin? Did they actually hate each other so much, that they wanted nothing to do with each other, apart from each taking one baby?

The last thought nearly made Lottie frown. She didn’t like to think of her Mum – whom her Daddy had praised and talked about on those rare moods where he felt like talking about her at all – in that way. And she definitely didn’t want to think of her father hating her mother, or willingly giving up one of his own daughters...

No, there had to be some other explanation.

And whatever the explanation was, it was all overwhelming! Lottie’s head was spinning, and she rubbed at her forehead.

“I think I need to sit back down!” she exclaimed, flopping down onto the bunk.

Her twin sister seated herself as well, “I think I’ll join you...!”

They sat basically in silence for what felt like a small age, neither one quite knowing what to do or say. Finding out that you had a long-lost twin sister really took it out of you!

When they’d finally recovered enough to be able to move, Mia sat up brightly.

“Whatcha wanna do now?” she asked. “We’ve missed eight years of doing stuff, and I wanna catch up!”

Lottie looked at her sister, and grinned. She saw the same glint in her eyes that her – no, _their_ – Daddy got whenever he was excited or happy about something.

She then turned her eyes briefly to the window. It was still raining heavily, so they couldn’t exactly go out and do anything.

She had an idea; she just hoped that Mia would like it.

“I...actually feel like swapping some family stories,” she said.

Mia looked at her, “You’re serious?”

Lottie nearly rolled her eyes, “Oh, come on! You can’t tell me that no one on your side of the family’s ever done anything funny, or embarrassing!”

She leaned in, lowering her voice.

“Some of the pranks that Daddy’s pulled in his time? Legendary.”

Well, when she put it like that, how could Mia refuse? Hearing about their father playing pranks like the two of them did at camp sounded like fun!

She looked deliberately over towards Lottie’s duffel bag.

“Got any snacks in there?”

And of course Lottie did.

A few moments and two Oreo packets being opened later, the newfound sisters were lost to the outside world, enthralled by their unexpected discovery and delighted by having found the family the never knew they had.


	8. Chapter 8

**_ Chapter 7 _ **

The next day passed by so fast, the two girls wouldn’t have been able to believe it if they’d stopped talking to examine the time. The only things that had kept them in any kind of order at all were the bells for mealtimes and for lights out.

Not that Lottie and Mia had gone to bed right away. They’d moved the cots closer together to talk first, and had ended up talking long into the night.

And they were continuing their newfound friendship and sisterhood into the next day, going over photographs that they hadn’t managed to go through the day before.

“Here’s my house,” Lottie tapped a photograph of a large Edwardian-looking townhouse. “Right in the middle of London.”

Mia took the photograph to take a better look, and she began to smile.

“It’s really pretty!” she said. “It looks really old.”

Lottie shrugged a little, “I guess it is - but there are other houses around that are a lot older. Did you pack a photo of your house?”

Mia picked through her own selection, and brought out what her sister (she still couldn’t believe she could say that!) had asked for. She pointed and showed her the New York mansion that she shared with her mother, and in the picture a younger Mia was sat on the steps leading up to the front door. She was beaming broadly, and had her arms around what looked like a small, tan-coloured puppy.

Lottie gasped quietly, “You have a dog?!”

Mia nodded, “Yeah, Chester II.”

“Oh,” the knowledge that he was the second of his name seemed to disappoint Lottie. “What happened to the first Chester?”

“He was my Mom’s, he was heading for old when I hit three,” she explained. When I was old enough and after Chester had been gone a while, we decided to get.”

She looked at the picture nostalgically, and sighed. To think, back then she wasn’t even aware that she had a sister! She was just focused on her Mom, and the new happy resident of their house, who wanted to wander out of shot and explore his new neighbourhood.

Mia looked up at Lottie again, forcing a smile, “Have you got any pets?”

Lottie shook her head as she continued to go through the many pictures Mia had taken out of her box. “Nope. We had a cat a few years ago, but he ran away. Dad always says we are going to get a new one, but we never do.”

Mia couldn’t help the small chuckle, “Yeah, Mom’s like that with Disneyworld. We went once, and ever since she’s dreaded it. I keep asking her to go back and she always puts it back.”

“It seems that both our parents have similar strategies to deal with us,” said Charlotte, laughing too. “Although I’ve never been to Disney myself.”

Mia’s eyebrows raised, “You’ve never been to Disney?! Isn’t there one in Paris?!”

Lottie nodded, but she also shrugged, “Well, yeah. But I’ve never been. Dad works a lot, and prefers to take holidays in England. He always says that while he was over here, he missed it. But he says it with a kind of...sad look on his face. I don’t ask him about it any more than that.”

Mia frowned thoughtfully. She couldn’t help wondering why her dad felt so sad every time he mentioned vacationing - they were supposed to be fun, weren’t they? If it had been her living with him, then she’d probably have asked him already.

Her mom always told her that if she wanted to know something, she should do what she could to find out. And in this case, there couldn’t have been too much trouble in asking, could there?

She might’ve not felt right about Lottie not asking, but if her sister hadn’t done it then she wasn’t going to get any answer. There was nothing she could do apart from uneasily move on.

“Oh,” she said, biting her lip. “But he let you come here, to this camp?”

Lottie nodded, “Mm-hm. But it wasn’t easy – it took me the better part of a year to convince him, and only after my Mémé intervened did he let me come.”

Mia’s eyes widened a little. She knew what having to beg for things was, but usually her grandparents either stayed out of it or saved her the trouble by giving her what she asked themselves. It had taken some work to get her Mom to send her to Camp Walden, but overall it hadn’t been that difficult.

She knew she wanted her to be happy, and at the end of the day, if going to the camp made Mia happy, then why would her Mom refuse? All she’d had to do was give it a little bit of thought.

Deep thought, because she had worried as well. But it hadn’t stopped Mia from being enthusiastic, and seeing her daughter so excited at the thought had made her cave in.

But one thing didn’t entirely make sense about that. If her Mom was so concerned with Mia’s happiness, then why had she kept it from her that she had a sister, and only told her the basics about her dad? Didn’t she think they’d make her happy, or that knowing about them would make her happy?

Knowing that Lottie was her sister had made her the happiest girl in the world already! She was a thousand percent sure that knowing more about her dad would make her feel the same way!

Perhaps she needed to intervene for her Mom, and convince her that it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world...

Well...maybe there was a way of tricking her into it? Her Mom was always telling her how good she was at pranks, and that she used to pull them all the time! It wouldn’t be any different than that!

And it would be the first prank she and Lottie had played together...

“You’ve just given me a great idea, you know?”

Lottie cocked her head to one side, staring quizzically at her sister, “I have? How?”

“You said that your – our – Mémé intervened!” Mia began to explain. “I think we should intervene and get our parents to agree that we can stay in contact, and meet the parents that we’ve missed our whole lives!”

Lottie’s eyes widened, matching Mia’s, “What?! How?!”

Mia stopped and thought, biting her lip, “I… I don’t know. We’ll have to trick them somehow, though, or they probably won’t agree. What do you think?”

Lottie pursed her lips, “Dad is good at tricks – it’d have to be something he couldn’t guess.”

“Mom is good at them, too – but I’m sure she’ll be fooled if it’s good enough,” Mia rested her chin in her palm and tapped her cheek with one finger. The longer she thought, the more she began to smile to herself. “Dad likes pranks, too?”

Lottie smirked, “He’s practically the king of them! If Mum is good at them too, it sounds like they had a lot in common...”

Mia nodded sadly, “Yeah...sounds like it...”

The more she thought, the sadder she felt about her parents not being together. Most of her friends’ parents were married, in love and totally happy.

She knew her Mom wasn’t happy. Not in the whole lovey-dovey way, anyway. She didn’t date (ever, after a few attempts Mia didn’t quite remember because she’d been so small), and the only permanent sign of a man around the house now was the one photo of Niles that, until Mia had found it, had been kept hidden in a box...

Wait a minute. If her Mom didn’t miss him, then why had she kept it?

Mia looked up at her sister, “Dad really doesn’t ever talk about Mom?”

Lottie shook her head, “He gets sad when he tries.”

“Does he have any more pictures of her? Like, apart from the one you’ve already showed me?.”

That appeared to be a whole different story.

“A few – he keeps them locked in a drawer in his desk. And, I...um...” Lottie then lowered her voice, as though she’d get in trouble. “I went in there one day. He doesn’t just have pictures…”

Mia leaned in, intrigued as to what her sister could be about to reveal.

“He has a ring, too. A real, proper engagement ring!”

Mia gasped. Their Dad kept a ring with pictures of their Mom?! Surely that could only mean he was in love with her, right? He wouldn’t keep some old ring or the photos if he didn’t!

“Lottie, that’s great!” Mia exclaimed. “If they both keep photos of each other and Dad still has a ring, then they clearly still miss each other! And if they miss each other, we can get them back together!”

Lottie was gobsmacked, “You’re serious?!”

“Dead serious!” Mia replied. “You do want them back together, right?”

“Well, yeah...!” Lottie answered immediately.

“And we’re going to try and trick them into letting us meet the parent we’ve never met, right?”

“Yeah...”

Mia grinned at her sister, “Then why don’t we combine the two and make that our plan?!”

Lottie gaped for a second, and then began to beam, “Mia, you’re a genius!”

Mia stuck out her chest, which was puffed up with pride, “I know, I know...”

But as soon as the feeling had come, it was gone. A major part of their plan was still missing.

Mia slumped, her chin returning to her palm, “But we’ll never convince them if we just come out and ask them to meet up! We still need to come up with a plan that’ll fool them!”

“Like the Marvas confusing us,” Lottie said aloud. “They need to be as fooled as that!”

And suddenly, it all clicked in Mia’s head. The Marvas had been fooled – they couldn’t tell them apart!

Practice a couple of accents and hope their parents didn’t even suspect the other twin was there, and it was fool proof!

“ _That’s it_!” she cried, briefly hugging her sister and releasing her. “You’re a genius! We’ll pretend to be each other!”

Lottie’s eyes widened, “You mean, pretend to be each other as in swapping lives?!”

“Mh-hm,” nodded Mia, grasping Lottie’s forearms, “They won’t be able to tell, and then, when we finally reveal our brilliant scheme, they’ll have to meet again, _face to face!”_

The excitement made Mia shake her twin a little, a bright beam stretching from ear to ear. This was genius! It was foolproof!

Or so she thought.

Lottie, however, didn’t seem entirely convinced.

“Mia, even though it is a good plan, there are too many loose ends!”

“Like what?” asked Mia, releasing Lottie to cross her arms.

“Well, to start with, we are two different people! We have completely different lives, personalities, habits – even accents!” protested Lottie.

Mia, however, was ready to fend off her sisters fears.

“Well, we’ll teach the other how to act and behave! It isn’t like we are going home tomorrow. We have six weeks to learn how to act like the other! Besides, I am great at imitating you—” Mia pouted her lips, affected a sneer and then spoke with a fake British accent, “ _Would you care for a spot of tea?_ ”

Lottie cringed, screwing up her face and covering a brief amused smile. Not even their Dad said that, or sounded completely like it, and he had the poshest accent she’d ever heard in real life!

Luckily they had time to practice. To get out all the little slang words and phrases that might come up (and those that wouldn’t, unless you went to a grandmother’s house) Mia could do a really good imitation if she tried hard, Lottie was certain of it, and she knew she could fake an American accent...

They’d have the right sound for their new roles yet!

“You’re getting there,” she told her sister politely, nodding. But some of it still isn’t right. If it’s going to work, we need to make sure they don’t question the accent at all.”

Mia nodded, a little put out but understanding, “When do we get started?”

Lottie smiled, “How’s today sound? We’ve also got to work on what you think British people say on a daily basis!”

Mia stuck her tongue out at her sister, “Everything about tea is a common phrase and you know it, sister.”

Lottie rolled her eyes at Mia and got to her feet, ushering for her sister to follow suit. “That is so not true!”

“It _so_ is,” teased Mia back, “You have the tea you drink and afternoon tea. Everything is tea over there—”

“You forgot evening tea,” said Lottie, sticking Mia with an unamused stare. Though it didn’t stay in place for long – the confusion on her sister’s face was proving to be a rather entertaining sight.

“ _Evening tea_...?” asked Mia, quirking an eyebrow, “Is that even a thing?”

Lottie looked at her, a self-satisfied smirk spreading across her features. She was planning on leaving it for an almost agonisingly long amount of time but she got too impatient for the punchline.

“It’s what we call dinner sometimes.”

The hilarity mounted and she burst out laughing at the look on Mia’s face. The shock and horror was all too much to stop herself!

“Dinner...?” she asked weakly. “ _Evening tea_ is what you call dinner...?!”

“Yeah,” Lottie spluttered, before pointing at her playfully. “You are gonna have _so_ much fun learning all our names for things!”

Mia looked dubious, “Am I gonna regret asking?”

Lottie shrugged, “Depends on if you want to sound British or not.”

Mia rushed to her sister’s side eagerly. She so wanted to get this right! She wanted to meet their Dad, and for Lottie to meet their Mom! Getting it perfect was a huge step towards that!

“I do!” she cried. “I really wanna know!”

Lottie smiled, “Alright, then. We’ll get started on some easy ones that are usually said in people’s houses and in day to day conversation - everything from brolly, to bicky, all the way down to wellies at the end of the alphabet! Oh, that reminds me, you’ll also have to learn to say some letters the way we do - “zed”, not “zee”, for example.”

Mia’s face fell again. There was so much to remember! And so very little of it made any sense! Why were they having tea with dinner? How could the alphabet sound different? What the heck did “bicky” mean?!

But, at the same time, she had her mother’s determination in her. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to be stopped from getting it just because Lottie was telling her things for kicks.

Her sister was just having fun. She wouldn’t blow the whole plan!

So, instead of getting confused or scared over whatever her British twin could possibly say next, she squared herself up. She was gonna tackle this head-on and come out of it even stronger.

Her mother would be so proud, if she’d known...and if they were doing this to someone else...

“Alright, I can do that,” she said with an affirming nod. “Anything else I should know? Like how to tell the Royal Family apart from like their birthdates or something?”

Lottie scoffed, “Not quite that bad. But you will need to know the main one’s names. And some famous sites around London, like the Tower. You know, we have to keep five ravens there to stop the kingdom from being destroyed?”

Mia couldn’t believe she’d heard her right at first, but the look on Lottie’s face told her that she hadn’t misheard. It was then her turn to screw up her face.

“You people are weird...”

Lottie laughed again, “We’re not weird! We just have our traditions!”

“Like keeping birds so your country doesn’t go kaput?” Mia asked teasingly. “I’ve got news for you, my twin – that’s weird!”

Lottie folded her arms, “It might be one of our...odder ones, but it’s not like America doesn’t have its own weird traditions! And I’ll expect you to tell me how they work, otherwise this is all gonna fall apart.”

The discussion went on for well over an hour, telling each other little facts about their countries that the other might find useful. As they did, they both began to practice speaking like their twin, repeating the facts given to them in the other’s voice.

Even just starting up felt good. It felt like progress towards an unbelievable and overwhelmingly joyful goal. If they pulled it off, they’d have their parents back! Two people who hadn’t seen each other in so long, but were clearly still so very much in love...

Mia wondered what it would be like when they saw each other again for the first time. She doubted it would be as romantic or perfect as the movies, but maybe it could be cute in an awkward way? Like they’d approach each other carefully, maybe shuffling their feet. One would clear their throat before starting up conversation and slowly the awkward would melt away...

She couldn’t wait for it to happen. She couldn’t wait to have the family she’d always wanted, with her sister and her reunited, in love parents. She could tell that Lottie couldn’t wait, either - she knew it was because obviously they’d both be excited about getting their parents back together, but Mia liked to think it was partially one of those secret twin things, too, where one could tell how the other was feeling or what they were thinking...

It would make sense as to how they were both learning so much already!

And, (as it just so happened to turn out) they both thought happily about how their plan was still only at the beginning.


	9. Chapter 9

**_ Chapter 8 _ **

The elder Marva couldn’t quite understand it. In all her years of running a camp and working with children, she’d never seen any two get over a massive fight - well, more like a war, really - so quickly! The Isolation Cabin had never worked so well in all the time that it had been built! At best, they’d usually hope for the two or more occupants learning to tolerate each other!

But this...this was extraordinary! The two girls were sat at the Isolation Table in the mess at their offered brunch, not ignoring each other or trying to pass messages to their friends on the surrounding tables. But they didn’t do that - they were talking to each other, laughing and just...well, having a good time!

The counsellor didn’t understand, but she was thankful for the peace!

She didn’t want to wander over and disturb, but she was beyond curious to know what they were talking about.

Perhaps about their families? They did come from such opposite places, with little chance of ever going there to see. It would be a marvellous insight...

Meanwhile, the girls were discussing things to remember, pausing only to take a bite out of their breakfasts between explanations.

“And you have to make sure you don’t slip up on the words, Lottie said. “We don’t call curbs “sidewalks”. Just like we don’t –”

That was when Mia shushed her. The plan had all been fit to go, they’d been excited for it – they’d both felt they were ready to give it a try!

But she couldn’t help noticing that something now seemed to be...missing.

Something which she should’ve realised! How she hadn’t, she didn’t even know!

Something Lottie hadn’t either, clearly, from the way she was looking at her.

“What’s the matter?”

Without a word, Mia got up from her seat and took a lock of her sister’s to compare with her own, tucking them both back behind their ears to

Show one with earrings, the other without.

She had no idea about what she’d do if her Mom found out to soon – she’d flip that she’d chosen to go so far without telling anyone, into the arms of a man she’d never met.

But he wasn’t a stranger. He was her father, as much as Lottie’s, and they were going to find a way around her sister looking like she’d been away for years, not weeks!

“Your hair is longer,” she told Lottie quietly. “And your ears aren’t pierced! What are we gonna do?!”

Lottie’s eyes widened, which just confirmed that she hadn’t even noticed.

“I don’t know!” she nearly cried, only managing to keep her voice down so they didn’t attract attention. She looked at her hair, and brushed her own earlobes. “What can we do?!”

Mia dropped their hair and sat back down, covering her mouth with one hand and gripping slightly as she thought. There was one obvious answer, but if it went wrong then Lottie was gonna look like...well, how Mia had wished she’d looked back when they’d been enemies!

There was nothing else they could do, though. They had to take the risk, and even then Lottie could always say there was some kind of prank that got played at the camp...

Their Mom would probably flip if that ended up happening, and go to the camp to chew out whoever let her baby get hurt. And she could only imagine how their Dad would react to her “coming home” with less hair and perfectly pierced ears!

They’d just have to hope that nothing went wrong. Maybe their parents would go easy on them about it?

Mia felt her heart doing the emotional equivalent of crossing its fingers, and she replied to her sister’s question.

“There’s only one thing we can do. We’re gonna have to cut your hair and pierce your ears.”

Lottie immediately shrank back in her seat, nearly pushing it away from the table.

“What?! No!”

Mia immediately shushed her, eyes darting around to make sure no one else had heard them. It’d be hard enough trying to explain that they weren’t any enemies anymore and that they were happy

And there were going to be happy, when their parents realised what they were missing out on.

But this had to be done first. It was the vital step towards getting to meet the respective parents that they never knew, and then getting said parents to meet again...

Lottie couldn’t just back out because of her hair! And piercing ears was easy - it didn’t hurt that much!

She had to bring her twin round to it. That was the only chance they had.

“Oh come on, Lottie...!” she didn’t want to beg - she knew that her sister -also knew how important this was. “It’ll grow back! And until it does, we can just pretend that you got gum in your hair. No one’ll even notice!”

Lottie didn’t want to admit that gum in her hair sounded like a reasonable alibi, or that yes, her hair would indeed grow back. Neither of those things really mattered, when weighed against being made to hold very still so that someone could shove pins through her ears!

She and their dad had had an agreement about it, really. He was afraid of taking her along to any store that just happened to sell accessories but also offered piercings because who knew how often they cleaned the piercing gun, or how many people had used it before they did? And Lottie didn’t like the thought of needles going anywhere in her body anyway, so she hadn’t had a problem with it and had readily agreed to give it some thought and wait until she was older at a proper piercings place if she did want them done.

And in her mind, this wasn’t enough time to think, or to decide if she was old enough!

“I’ll notice!” she protested instead, trying hard not to make anyone else suspicious as she began to edge herself away from the table. “And I’ll probably notice an infection if piercing my ears goes wrong as well!”

Mia took her arm to stop her from getting further from her, “Relax! There won’t be any infection, we’ll clean everything before the needle goes anywhere near your ears, I promise.”

She looked imploringly at her sister. They were so close, this persuasion had to work!

“Come on, sis,” she said. “You’ll get to meet Mom, and that’s just the first step after this!”

The look Mia got from her sister wasn’t promising.

She had no choice – she hadn’t wanted to do so, but it was time to beg.

“Please, Lottie, I beg you!” said Mia, reaching for and clutching at her sister’s hands, “I wanna meet Dad and you want to see Mom. There's no way I could go to camp with pierced ears and come home without 'em.  I mean, come on.  Get real.”

Lottie scoffed at her sister, still unconvinced by what Mia wanted to do. What if something went wrong? How were they going to explain it to the Marvas without risking being sent back home? It would simply ruin everything, and their parents would never meet again! Not to mention she wasn’t keen on the prospect of having to have cosmetic surgery on her disfigured ears at the tender age of 8.

Still, Lottie had to give it to her sister – not piercing her ears would be a dead giveaway. They’d stand no chance at fooling their parents (or even immigration services – after all, how could it be that the photo on Mia’s passport showed a girl with pierced ears while its holder didn’t have them?).

They had no choice. Either they went all the way, risking potential disaster, or they let this opportunity go and hoped for another opportunity to see each other to turn up.

The latter was, obviously, completely unacceptable. Doing so would mean they did all the preparation for nothing, and meeting their estranged parents would remain an impossible dream...

Lottie had to do it.

“Ugh, fine!” barked Lottie, leaning back in her chair, “It’s so not fair! You didn't have to do one bloody thing to become me and here I am, having to have holes punched in my ears by an eight year old!”

“Eight and a half,” corrected Mia, “And hey, can you blame me for being complicated woman with a look entirely my own?”

Lottie rolled her eyes, trying not to smile. She didn’t want to give Mia the satisfaction of seeing her appear too happy right after agreeing to the piercing. That would have to take time.

And it definitely wouldn’t happen right away if Mia suggested doing it the moment they got back to the cabin!

But she’d still give her answer to what her sister had just said.

“I suppose not,” she said, feigning reluctance only a little.

At last, she started to relax in her seat again, too. It made Mia calmer, knowing that Lottie was relaxed enough to agree to what she’d said.

But the rest was making her so excited, it was hard to think about being calm. It was like trying to appreciate the turning of a page in a book, over the sound of fireworks.

They’d look identical - well, even more identical than they already did! Literally no one would know, apart from the other! They’d see their missed parents in no time at all, and they’d get to work getting them to see that they’d missed each other...

They’d have to get ready soon - they’d have to do the piercing almost right away so that the redness and swelling had time to go away without the camp counsellors noticing.

Lottie might complain again because it was so soon, but she’d already agreed that they had to do it. And better to get it done sooner rather than later, right?

So, when it looked like other girls at other tables were starting to go back to their cabins, Mia pushed out her chair, eager to get going.

“Let’s go,” she said quietly. “I have everything we need in the cabin!”

Lottie followed suit with her own chair, getting to her feet sighing but not quite smiling like Mia was. But that was to be expected, really. She clearly wasn’t looking forward to it.

But, as they walked through the room and then left the cafeteria, Mia gave her a nudge with her elbow and a look to tell her that it would be okay.

It’d be over before she knew it, and then they could see about cutting her hair as well.

Their parents weren’t gonna know what had hit them!


	10. Chapter 10

**_ Chapter 9 _ **

She seldom visited the attic anymore. Save for when she wanted to discard inconvenient trinkets that couldn’t be thrown out or, in the Halloween and Christmas decorations’ case, things that were only used once a year.

Clusters of old boxes were piled unceremoniously in every corner and covered by a thin (although noticeable) layer of dust. It was cobwebs galore on the ceiling, and the floorboards made a nasty creaking sound when someone stepped on them. An unpleasant musty smell seemed to pervade the air, but C.C. barely noticed it – to her, the attic only smelled of rotting memories.

Memories that were better left buried, even if they refused to do so and emerged every once in a while, like a stubborn zombie that simply wouldn’t stay dead. Only in this case it wasn’t a hunger for brains that awoke them – it was nostalgia.

Nostalgia, and maybe, C.C. thought as she opened the one little box she was fastidious about keeping hidden behind her mother’s old mahogany chest of drawers, masochism too.

As expected, the small stack of once white envelopes met her sight. The paper was turning a faint shade of yellow, and every time she came back (which was not often for obvious reasons) she could tell the envelopes were starting to have the characteristic scent of old paper.

Had it been that long already?

Eight, coming up for nine years since she’d been in a hospital bed and sore across her middle, holding Mia close to her heart as she said her goodbyes to Lottie before Marie took her away. She’d left mother and remaining daughter alone, and C.C. had promised her little girl the world.

She didn’t know if she’d given her the world yet. But she had given her all the love and affection that she possessed, as well as the finest home, food and clothes any child could wish for. Mia wanted for nothing, except for good reason, and got everything she needed to keep her happy.

And it was only one more day until her baby girl came home from camp! The time hadn’t exactly passed quickly without her there, but it still felt a shorter period than the endless waiting she’d imagined.

That was why C.C. was going to look at her old ultrasounds that day. It was the last one she’d get in the privacy of her own memories before her present day reality came bursting through the door, probably talking about everything she’d done in her time away from the house...

She picked up the first envelope, and took out the picture to examine it.

She automatically smiled upon seeing it, her eyes misting over as her chest swelled with overwhelming love and nostalgia. The ultrasound had been taken when she was six months along, and both her girls were clear and present in it.

It was one of the few precious pictures she had of them clearly together, and the rest were all lying around in envelopes in that room, too.

She’d been terribly afraid of being pregnant at first. She’d known what it would entail, and each detail had terrified her in its own unique way. She hadn’t even been convinced that it would be worth it, considering everything that had gone on with Niles...

She hadn’t been sure she wanted...well, _his_ children...

The thought seemed awful now, in some ways, given that that would’ve meant no Mia. And no little Lottie out there, somewhere...

But the longer she thought about those early days, the more she remembered what had made her change her mind.

It had been the first ultrasound. The doctor had pointed out the two tiny little things on the screen that C.C. almost couldn’t see, let alone imagine to be in her belly, but when she’d realised exactly where they were, something clicked.

Those little things were gonna be bigger things. Bigger things that would grow, and explore and discover the world in their own unique way…

Bigger things that would someday go on to become powerful and (hopefully) kind-hearted individuals.

And she – _she_ , the infamous Bitch of Broadway no less, who many’d thought couldn’t experience basic human emotions such as love – had helped to make them! They were hers, to love and… well, in the case of one, to keep.

It’d been hammered completely home when she’d heard their heartbeats. C.C. didn’t think she’d ever fallen entirely in love, until that moment - listening to the little rhythm of life going on inside her.

All of a sudden, she hadn’t been able to think of anything else but looking after the little ones growing in there.

Of course, she’d only been able to do it for one of her girls. She’d imagined that Niles had done the same for Lottie on occasion, but she tried not to think too hard about it.

They’d reached their agreement – Lottie was Niles’ to keep, and she had to focus on Mia.

Once she’d gotten going with motherhood, it was very easy to do that.

Feeling a familiar heat behind her eyes and as a melancholy smile made it’s appearance, C.C. took another couple of the envelopes, comparing the ultrasounds inside to the one she’d first opened. She chuckled at the time gap, seeing how the six-month-old babies in the first picture had come from a couple of tiny little peanut-like dots. And now...now, those little dots were heading for their ninth birthday...

She’d have to get a party ready – either set one up at a place Mia liked to go, or prepare the house for chaos, decorate and cater for a party at home.

Once again, she had to shake the thought of Niles and Lottie out of her head. The thought of a perfectly catered and fun birthday party hosted by him got mentally tossed in the trash with it.

It wasn’t her business what they were doing. And besides, the actual day was still months away yet – they’d be having a welcome home party for Mia long before then!

Fran had offered to pick little Mia up at the airport so C.C. could stay at their home and have everything ready for her welcome celebration.

She’d actually thought up the party on one of those nights where the longing for her child hadn’t allowed her to sleep. She wasn’t used to being apart from her – as a matter of fact, she could count the occasions she’d been away from Mia for more than three days with the fingers of one hand. That’s why it had taken some consideration for her to allow her little one to simply go on her merry way all the way to Maine for eight long weeks.

Eight weeks that, in her humble opinion, had felt like a lifetime.

She’d consoled herself by thinking Mia was surely having a wonderful time (which had been proved so far by the many texts she’d gotten from Mia telling her just every little detail of her fun-filled holidays) and that, when she was back, she’d make sure to spend as much time as possible with her girl. She’d already given notice at the office – she was taking the next two weeks off and that was that.

The vicissitudes of her work persona and her mother persona never ceased to amaze her...

She was the first to admit she was a workaholic, but where Mia was concerned, nothing was above her or her well-being.

That was why she was taking such careful consideration with the party. Nothing could be out of place for her girl – they’d have all her favourite foods, her favourite decorations (the ones Mia had had to explain to her mother were “cool”, like the ones other kids had at their parties), her favourite music...it made C.C. a little wistful, thinking of how much she was going to enjoy it!

Of course, part of C.C. would spend it dreading the possibility that Mia would want to go back, or to rush off by herself again, or to just be with her friends. But she reassured herself for the time being with the idea that a girl who wanted time away from her mother wouldn’t text as much as the two of them did.

It soothed the worry. She didn’t think she could bear her little one being off so far away again – especially not so soon after coming home!

Ironically enough, that was when she found the picture of her bringing Mia home from the hospital. She’d carried her in through the door so delicately, like she was carrying the most precious thing in the world – and in her mind, both then and in the present, she had been. Her father had taken the shot, almost like a “candid camera” kind of thing, and he was still proud of himself for getting such a good one.

C.C., smiling down at the little bundle in her arms, just stepping over the threshold with the door just open enough to see Noel’s head behind her as he brought luggage in. But he was barely a focus – the eye went naturally to the mother and daughter, the former having been excited and a little scared but perfectly happy for her new little big adventure, and the latter so sound asleep that she had no idea what was going on...

She’d had no idea that her (hopefully wonderful) life was just beginning. She’d been completely oblivious to the fact she’d just entered a wide new world that held countless adventures for her to go in.

She’d been completely unaware that, somewhere out there, she had a twin sister – a little bundle of joy just like her, with the softest tuft of blonde hair and the bluest eyes...

C.C. forced herself to shake those images out of her head – thinking about Lottie was a path she didn’t want to go down. It simply hurt too much, and the last thing she wanted, was to be sad when her child – the one child she was allowed to know and take care of – came home.

Over the years she’d debated with herself about whether keeping the girls apart had been the best idea. Yes, the agreement had been drawn to protect all parties involved, but had it really been the best option? Couldn’t they have come up with something else? Reached some sort of middle ground?

She didn’t know if they could or not. She’d kept herself from thinking about it for so long, she’d...they’d...long gone past the stage where talking was an option. She didn’t even know how she’d react if she saw...certain people today.

It was too much to think about, really. And suddenly springing a whole new sibling on Mia just wouldn’t be fair, would it? She’d only ever known part of her family for all of her life and perhaps that was for the best? She didn’t want to make her girl upset or confused by introducing new people – she might think that maybe she’d been abandoned by them, and that was the last thing C.C. wanted her to think.

Even if it might make things easier on her, thinking of Niles as bad...

No. She just wouldn’t think of him at all. That would be the easiest way moving forward.

It was her and Mia. Nobody else. No one to hurt them, or betray them in any way, or to leave them...

That thought hurt very much, too, but what other choice did she have?

She put down the photo, and busied herself away from the thought by looking for more. She found a few which she thought might do the trick – old birthday parties, trips to the park, playing with the dog in the house...

But all the while at the back of her mind, she could still feel the hurt. She was just telling herself it was easier to tune out than it actually was.

Mia’s photos were a nice distraction on a more conscious level, though. C.C. thought that, one of these days, they might be able to sit down on a rainy day and put all of them into photo albums. It’d be a nice bonding activity, and they’d be able to relive a lot of old memories, before her girl grew up more and made new ones of her own.

She had a flash forward to what she could imagine her girl’s wedding being like, with many of the images she was seeing being put up on a slide show for all the guests to see...

While C.C. herself sat by herself at the table, in floods of tears because it was her girl’s special day but also because she was alo—

No. She wasn’t going to think about that – not when she still had years before her little girl would do anything like go off and get married!

She laughed off the thought, and put the photos away. She had a lot more stuff she could be going through, like the baby clothes she still had of hers, and her old drawings from her kindergarten and early school days...

It was all there, and all hers to go over and to reminisce. She’d obviously never get the time back and there wasn’t going to be an opportunity for her to do it all over again. So, she had to be satisfied with what she had.

In most ways, she was. She had a fabulous job that kept the house and the dog and stocked the fridge, she had a great relationship with her father and brother, and her precious little girl would be home in a matter of hours, enjoying a fun party thrown in her honour. So yeah, there were more than enough things to be satisfied with there.

The things she wasn’t were...well, beyond her control. There wasn’t any point in getting upset over them – she had to just suck it up and move on.

She always did, eventually.

* * *

 

He supposed the clock must’ve still been ticking away on the study wall, counting down the time until his little one was due to come home, but Niles had been so engrossed in the pictures he held in his hands that it had faded away into the background.

He couldn’t help but let the smiling faces overtake him, in truth. How could he not, when they were two of the three people dearest to him in the entire world?

Of course, the first he’d looked at had been his Lottie – the daughter he’d carried out of the hospital with his head held high, and a strange mixture of pride for his girl and hurt at what he was leaving behind duking it out in his chest. The daughter he’d raised by himself, and loved with all of his heart and soul. The daughter who’d be coming back from her adventures in America the next day, and whom he couldn’t wait to hold in his arms as he heard about everything she’d gotten up to.

And he knew she was like him – she would’ve gotten up to something!

It had taken him a small age to look at the other picture – it always did, when it was Lottie’s mother in the frame. C.C. Babcock might’ve been smiling back at him right then and there, but he knew she’d never look at him in real life with anything less than scorn.

If she ever would look at him in real life, that was. The entire basis of their arrangement with Lottie and Mia was so they’d never have to see each other again...

It crushed him to think of it. Never being near the woman he loved more than anyone, nor ever getting to bond with the little girl he’d seen only once, when she and her sister had just been born...

He couldn’t help but wonder about his daughter who lived across an ocean. Had she grown up completely identical to Lottie? What did she like to do with her spare time? What were her favourite foods, or subjects at school? How many friends did she have? Did she like to play pranks as well?

So many questions he’d never know the answers to...

He knew he’d never know the answers, but it didn’t stop him from thinking about them often. Well, he said “often” when he truly meant every day from the moment he got up in the morning.

He’d get out of bed and remember that New York was five hours behind London. He’d hope that his girl was all tucked up in bed, and having happy dreams.

He might make a delicious lunch for Lottie after a morning of shopping, and think about what Mia could be having for breakfast before her day began.

He’d tuck Lottie into bed at night, and wonder if Mia had finished all of her homework. He’d imagine C.C. helping her with it, and occasionally – when he was feeling bold enough – he’d fantasise that he and Lottie were in the room as well, going over a textbook and working towards getting both their girls an A in their class. Over hot chocolate and a plate of homemade cookies, of course.

But that was just a dream, and more often than not he shook it out of his head before he could think about it for very long. It hurt too much to think of something that wasn’t ever going to happen.

No, he had to focus on what he did have, even if he knew it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

Not to get him wrong, parts of it were what he wanted, and truly made him happy. He could easily concentrate on raising Lottie for instance. Having her was, in truth, what kept him going – it was a dream come true, having a child of his own to take on day trips out, to teach to cook, and to cuddle up together with on the sofa to have a movie night.

His girl deserved nothing but the best in his mind, and with the money that C.C. had agreed he should have to provide for their daughter, he had been able to give her the best of everything. Her food and clothes, toys, education and sports – all of it was of the highest quality, even if paying for it all had left his previously six-dollars-an-hour-wage mind reeling for the first year or so. He’d quickly gotten over it, once he was more used to giving his girl a more comfortable life than he’d had as a butler.

She was going to get a splendid welcome home, too. Oh, how he’d missed his little girl for the past eight weeks!

Again, his mind had to go and ruin it by jumping in with the thought of how he’d been missing C.C. and Mia for far longer, but he pushed it out again.

He distracted himself with thoughts of what Lottie’s reaction would be to the feast he and his mother had prepared for her. They’d spent the past day and a half preparing Lottie’s favourite dishes, which were now resting in the fridge, carefully wrapped in foil paper.

Marie had even taken the time to prepare Lottie’s favourite dessert: île flottante, which consisted of meringue served floating on a milky custard sauce.

She’d first tried it in France, when they’d all visited Marie’s motherland when Lottie was about four years old. She hadn’t looked back ever since.

He remembered Marie had promised Lottie she would teach her how to make it when she came back from camp, and he was already looking forward to one of their baking sessions. They could spend hours in the kitchen, just preparing the most exquisite delicacies humankind had ever laid eyes on. Or, sometimes, when they weren’t up for slaving away in the kitchen, they’d go to a nearby bakery and buy chocolate chip cookies to eat while watching a movie or sharing a quiet afternoon.

Those quiet family moment were, more often than not, what helped soothe the yearning for the other half of his family.

Of course, it never went away completely.

That was why he’d tried introducing...someone new. Someone else, who came with her own set of demands and a pair of heels that clicked across hard floors. But there hadn’t been much change – if any at all – so far.

He kept telling himself that he just had to stick it out. That change would come eventually, if he’d just let himself (and certain people) go. But he didn’t think that he could do that, either – the last woman he’d offered his heart to might’ve stomped on it, but she’d taken it with her as well, whether she liked it or not.

He knew she wouldn’t like it, if she ever probably stopped to think about it. He couldn’t imagine her struggling to find someone. Not to replace him, because that would imply she’d ever had feelings for him in the first place, but to find someone who was simply better than him. A rich businessman, perhaps, or a high-priced lawyer or banker, or maybe even a politician, like a senator...

Someone who’d take care of both her and Mia, better than he’d been able to then.

The thought of another man raising his child stung, especially when he knew he’d jump at the chance to be with both his girls, but he knew he couldn’t exactly prevent it. No more than he could prevent C.C. from dating whomever she chose, which was a thought that brought its own level of pain into his head and his heart.

She’d choose the wealthiest, best looking of the lot, and she could do it – she was utterly charming and gorgeous beyond compare, and they’d all see it. They’d probably have a magnificent wedding, and Mia would be a bridesmaid at an event Lottie would never even hear about.

They’d probably happily provide more siblings for Mia, to make up for that fact...

That was when Niles had to bury the anger and the sadness. He knew he had no right to feel either – not when they’d had their agreement. But he just couldn’t help himself!

His imagination kept on terrifying him with things like that. It was ever-present to remind him that things were not the way he wanted them to be, and never would be.

He tried his hardest to give Lottie the perfect life, but his own would always fall very far short. Perhaps, the worst part of it was that he had no one to blame for his current situation. No one but himself.

They say time heals all wounds, but Niles wasn’t quite so certain about that – if anything, time had only helped to confuse him further. The memory of that fateful evening had started to blur, and the more time passed, the harder it became to tread the boundaries between reality and his own machinations. The fact that he avoided thinking about their argument like the plague did not help, either.

There was only so much time he could dwell on the past without feeling the urge to either throw himself off a cliff or take the first plane to New York that he could get. He couldn’t afford to do so either – not when he had a young girl that depended on him. She was the reason why he forced himself to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

There was no space for a dreamer´s soul and a father’s heart in him. So, for the sake of his child – the only child he would ever know and get to love – he’d done without the former for the past eight years, and that’s how it would stay for the foreseeable future. His place was as carer and unconditional support to his Lottie, not as the naïve dreamer that had set foot in America over thirty years ago.  

He hadn’t planned life to go this way (if he’d ever planned a course at all), but he had to make do with what life had thrown his way. He knew he had little to complain about – he was a millionaire, he lived in a nice ten-bedroom house with his mother and child, he could provide for them and allow himself the liberty to splurge from time to time…

There was hardly a reason to grouse about…

Not that his stubborn (and lovesick) heart had taken notice.

That was a feeling he couldn’t ever truly bury. It would probably kill him if he even tried. So, the next best thing was to love in private, in the clandestine space of his office. He couldn’t keep C.C.’s picture out anywhere else (his...new someone wouldn’t have it), and his desk drawer was lockable.

He kept everything that was important to him in there, including a ring that would never be worn by the woman it belonged to.

It wasn’t a family really, but having pictures and tokens was the next best thing. It made him feel like they were connected, even across thousands of miles and an argument that would keep them on separate continents.

Sighing to himself, he stroked one finger down the picture of C.C., right over her golden hair. If he’d known the two nights they had together were going to be his only chances, he’d have stroked it more, and played with it more.

Truth be told, if he could’ve gone back and started everything over again, there would have been a lot of things he’d have done differently.

He set the picture down. He knew she wouldn’t be thinking of him how he’d just thought about her. That had never been the way that they’d operated – there’d been a rhythm to it, which he’d ruined.

 And now he was paying the price, in so many ways...

But, as he’d told himself so many times over, he had brought that misery on himself. He couldn’t sit back and proclaim how unjust it all was, and how biased fate had been to him.

If it was unfair to anybody, it was unfair to Lottie, and to Mia. One would grow up never knowing her mother, and the other never knowing her father. And neither had had any say in the matter.

Of course, he could tell his girl all about her mother. He had tried before, but found himself...unable. But there was always the chance that in the future he’d be able to try again – when his heart had healed some more.

Part of his mind said that he was kidding himself to think his heart would ever heal, but he had to hope. Even if just so that he could tell Lottie all about her, and tell her about all the things he found in her that were similar to C.C....

Even just looking at the pictures, he could see obvious similarities. But their daughter had some of her internal traits, too – her keen intellect, her passion and perseverance...the love of pranks that all three of them seemed to share...

That sent the unwelcome thought that he and C.C. had so much in common, they’d have made a wonderful couple if he hadn’t been such a fool and just tried to interact with her like a normal person.

But no, he’d had to be a royal asshole about it.

It wasn’t easy for him to think about the events that had ultimately resulted in his family (if he could call it that way) coming apart before it had even begun.

Every story has a beginning, and his with Miss Babcock began long ago, when she was a plain assistant fresh out of college and he a young butler with dreams of someday being a powerful barrister. Their relationship had never been conventional – for the longest of times they’d been at odds, tossing zingers to and fro, and playing practical pranks on one another. But then Sarah had died and the Sheffield household became swamped in sadness. For the longest of times, they’d both gone about their days, avoiding each other mostly, but keeping everything together for Maxwell and the young Sheffield children’s benefit.

It was almost a tacit agreement – all games had had to come to a halt until Maxwell was ready to pull his head out of the sand.

Of course, as it was common knowledge, that moment only came along when Fran Fine did.

Fast forward to the months before Mr Sheffield finally grew a pair and asked Fran to marry him – Niles remembered he and Fran had had a falling out (it had been so long he simply couldn’t remember the reason why, but it must have been something petty) and he and Miss Babcock had allied against Miss Fine.

He liked to think about this moment as the beginning of the end.

They’d bonded as friends immediately, turning the pranks which had originally been aimed at each other at Fran instead. For the time that followed, they’d been practically joined at the hip, from reading the cartoons in the morning paper together to taking evening pottery classes...

They’d been so...happy, really...that when he’d (perhaps rather boldly) asked her out to dinner, she’d said yes with barely any thought about it whatsoever!

They’d both ended up saying yes to more than just dinner that night. It had only been natural, when they’d both come back to the mansion for a nightcap after their meal...she’d looked so gorgeous, he hadn’t been able to resist telling her so! And words had quickly become smiles and gestures, which evolved into light touches and kisses...they’d held hands as he’d led her upstairs, the two of them joking about how it was so late there was no sense in her going home that night – not when there was a perfectly good bed they could both be warming up...

When Niles thought about it on its own, he occasionally considered it one of the most magical nights of his life.

Unfortunately, in his mind it was more often than not attached to what had happened the next morning.

The morning that he had made up with Fran.

It still hurt even now to think of the hours before. Of rolling over sleepily, in the hopes of pulling C.C. into his arms and cheekily requesting another round, only to hit the imprint on a faintly warm, indented mattress. That had felt like walking up the stairs in the dark, and expecting another step where there was none, only to feel the minutely sickening drop before his foot hit the floor.

Only in this case, the drop had been understanding why she wasn’t there. Because of his standing in society, his lack of money, or a home, or any prospects that could make him worthy of her time or attention.

After that, the foot hitting the floor had been his heart cracking in two because of it.

It had left them back at a worse place than they’d already been. Their insults got harsher, the physical pranks a little more elaborate (and designed to humiliate as well as hurt), and the tension ran high very quickly whenever they were both in a room together.

He had a similar reaction every time he thought about Fran and Maxwell’s wedding, and the drunken, angry sex between him and C.C. that had come from it. He’d been the first to wake up to find himself lying naked next to a sleeping and equally naked C.C. Babcock. His first reaction had been one of shock, but he’d had enough presence of mind not to move a muscle – he’d needed a plan of action to face Miss Babcock the moment she woke up, as well as some moments to try and gather his own thoughts to try and understand how they’d gotten to that situation… again. So he’d lain there for several hours, ignoring his hangover in favour of thinking absolutely everything over.

Thinking about all the countless years wasted in petty fights.

Thinking about the feelings he’d been trying to ignore for so long.

Thinking about how he should have talked to her after their first night together instead of attacking her.

Because the truth was that he’d loved her – he still did. And he hadn’t wanted to let her go again. He’d wanted to fix things between them, all in hopes of a future together.

When she’d eventually woken and seen him there, the humiliation in her eyes had been obvious enough without her having to gasp in shocked horror, but that was what she did. The more Niles thought about it, the more he felt she might’ve been more drunk than he’d been, and that would’ve been saying something!

She’d immediately tried to gather her things and leave after that, which had hurt Niles deeply – it was almost a repeat of their first night together, but this time he was not going to let her go so easily. At least not without an explanation or a chance to express how he felt. So he’d reached out to grab her arm, and had begged her not to go. He’d begged her to stay.

She’d asked him why, and his answer (which he remembered came out stuttered and in a half-whisper) was that he wanted her to stay because he loved her.

Naturally, her reaction had been a cold, mocking laugh.

That had been the angriest and most mocking he thought he’d ever seen her. When his look had become questioning, she’d pointed out that he hadn’t exactly acted like he’d ever loved her, especially since he’d ended up ditching her to get Fran’s friendship back! So, she said, she was paying him back, and dropping him like he had done to her. That she would never even consider a pathetic excuse for a man passing as a sub-par maid.

That had just made Niles (cringingly) angry, and as she’d turned to leave he’d called out to her. He could still remember the exact words...

_“The second biggest mistake of my life. Clearly, the first was assuming that you have a heart!”_

Those words had been the final nail on their coffin. They’d barely been able to stand being in the same room together, let alone talk civilly to one another. Their pranks had ceased to be in good fun and they’d become an open war which soon tired themselves and those around them.

It had all come to a bitter end one morning Miss Babcock had come in later than usual, looking pale and ill. She’d left a message on his answering machine the previous evening, claiming that they needed to talk, something he’d simply had no intention of doing, but it had presented him with a perfect opportunity to set her up. So he’d waited for her at the door and greeted her with a curt nod when she’d gotten off her cab and moved towards the entrance to the mansion. What she hadn’t known, of course, was that he’d waxed the steps that led to it, and as a consequence she’d slipped and hit the ground extremely hard.

She’d cried out in pain afterwards, and scrambled to get back on her feet, tears rolling down her cheeks as he’d laughed.

That had been when absolutely everything had changed. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the producer look more angry, hurt or humiliated. And that had only gotten worse when he’d asked her if she couldn’t take a joke.

By this stage, the commotion had brought the Sheffields outside, and they were there to witness her slap him in the face.

She’d then screamed back that the only joke there was him; the sad, pathetic excuse for a servant who lived off his master, out of a room he’d never be able to afford on his own, and that he had no way of ever moving on or changing.

She’d then declared that she wasn’t going to end up the same way, before looking Maxwell right in the face and quitting on the spot.

She’d concluded it all by telling (spitting at) Niles that she was pregnant.

That was when the realisation that he could have caused her to...that there was a chance he could have...that was when the sheer gravity of what he had done hit him with the force of a freight train. It had paralysed him, even right down to the air in his lungs and the blood in his veins. Time seemed to stop, even as she had turned coldly away from him again to hail a nearby cab.

And then it had all sped up again, when he’d realised what that meant!

He’d scrambled after her, calling out in the hope that she would wait so they could talk. But she didn’t. She got into the cab and probably told the driver to step on it, leaving Niles in the dust.

Leaving him as behind her as her words made him realise he felt in life.

That was when he’d decided to quit, too. He wasn’t going to sit about and waste his life anymore - not when there were so many better things he could be doing, rather than being stuck in a place where he was given nothing but pain and humiliation - and he, too, quit then and there to Maxwell’s face.

Over the next few days, he’d left countless messages on C.C.’s machine, each one probably sounding more like he was begging than the last.

He most likely had been - he’d wanted to be a father for as long as he could remember, and he wanted to be a part of his child’s life now!

It was only after a few agonising weeks that she finally called him. It was, as she’d put it, “an act of mercy”. This was because she’d claimed that he could die before finding out because of his age.

He hadn’t zinged her back, knowing that she probably wasn’t in the mood to hear anything like that come from him. Instead, he kept himself calm, measured and insult-free, ready to listen at a moment’s notice.

She’d then gotten down to business and said that, out of the goodness in her heart, she thought that they could come to some kind of arrangement, especially after she’d found out that she was having twins.

His heart had leapt at the idea of simply getting to talk to her, and had done backflips the moment she’d said they were having twins, but he kept silent until she told him what she’d wanted.

He knew he’d agree to whatever she had to say next, no matter what came from it.

As such, what had come next, had become their history.

She’d informed him she didn’t want him to be anywhere near her during the pregnancy. He was not to accompany her to her appointments or ultrasounds, he was not to be there at the delivery, and he’d only be able to see their children when she was out of the room.

He had voiced his complaints about that last part, and after several subsequent phone calls, one face-to-face meeting with C.C. and his mother (whom he’d suggested could be a neutral party in the settlement), and heeding the advice of their lawyers, they had eventually come up with the agreement they still had today – one of the twins would live with him, and the other with C.C..   

He felt like a fool for having agreed – it truly was the most awful arrangement he’d ever heard, apart from the sixty-five million that C.C. had transferred to him so that he might give his daughter (the one he’d raise) the same life C.C. could keep her in. But it had been the only way he’d ever be allowed to meet Mia. He’d figured that he’d soon meet both of his daughters, even if he only got to hold one of them for a few minutes, than have one he never met at all.

His mother, whom C.C. had agreed could help her out during her pregnancy, was a wonderful conduit for all of that time. She’d updated him regularly with details of how everything was going, how C.C. looked and how big her belly was looking.

That was the roundness he would never see in real life. The soft glow about her that he would never get to admire. The woman he would never get to love up-close...

The only part of her he’d be allowed to love would be the twin that he was given. And she was a great gift, in that sense – a reminder that he’d held the woman he loved in his arms. He was certain both his girls were beautiful, too – little miracles that he had to be grateful for, considering the fact that he’d once believed that he’d never have the chance for fatherhood at all.

It truly had been the most wonderful turn his life could’ve taken. And it might’ve happened amidst a whole lot of bad things, but he was grateful that he at least had his Lottie from it.

His girl. She’d be back soon enough, and he could distract himself from all of these thoughts again. They’d probably go for a day out – it would be her choice where they went, of course – and have lunch somewhere nice. He’d probably end up treating her by buying something that she’d see while they were out and about, too.

After all, no matter what was going on in his life, his little girl deserved nothing but the best. That went double for times when she had done something deserving of reward (such as completing a long journey away by herself).

It went doubly so for times when he was feeling sad, and particularly lucky to still have her with him, but he never told her that. It wasn’t her burden to bear, knowing that he was lonely and that he missed her mother and sister more than anything in the world.

He put Lottie’s picture down too, and sighed to himself again. In the photo, as in real life, she was completely oblivious of all the troubles surrounding her parents.

He was aiming to keep it that way as best he could, too. There was no sense in telling her about the past, particularly if that past couldn’t possibly come back or be fixed.

The distant clicking of a pair of stilettos heels as they moved towards his office served as yet another sobering reminder that he had to move on. He had to at least try to...

He wasn’t completely sure if this was the right way, but it was the only one he could of. It would help fill the gaping hole C.C. had left behind and it would provide Lottie with a motherly figure.

Or so he hoped...

He hadn’t told his girl about this... new certain someone. Even if they’d been dating for about a year. He just hadn’t found the right time (or, if he was being honest, the right way) to break the news to little Lottie. So he’d asked this new woman to be patient.

She’d been patient for a while, and when she’d become more insistent a diamond ring and the promise to marry her had been enough for her to comply with his wishes.

She still got on at him occasionally about telling Lottie. The wedding was so many (this last time it had been eight) weeks away, she said. They couldn’t leave it until the last minute, she scolded. At this rate they’d be married by the time they’d told Lottie, she’d snapped.

The first time or so around, she’d also said something along the lines of not being able to wait to see the look on Lottie’s face – she was, he presumed, imagining his girl to be delighted.

He didn’t know about that so much, but he supposed he knew why he hadn’t gotten on with telling Lottie.

It was the same reason that, despite everything being paid for already and his bride-to-be already having had her dress fitted, he hadn’t even been able to bring himself to go out and buy himself a good suit for the day.

It was, no doubt, because of jitters. It had to be, right? It couldn’t be cold feet!

Doing those final things, like telling the most important person in his life, or buying the outfit he’d need for the day, were both two things that would make it all completely real, and the more he thought about how this was his future coming so close, the more he dragged his feet.

But what other choice did he have than to fight his way through the nagging (unwarranted, he told himself) thoughts? Dragging his feet to a new in place life showed his determination after all, no matter how jittery he got. And it was better than staying stuck in a place that was weighing on him and pulling him down, wasn’t it?

He certainly thought so. Just like he certainly thought that things would get better once they were married. He’d be over it all as soon as the vows were out.

He had to be.

He’d move on at last, which he symbolically thought to himself as he put the photographs away in his desk’s top drawer again.

He always kept it locked, too, which was just as well, considering the fact that the woman (his fiancée, he thought as his chest tightened) who’d just come to his office doorway wouldn’t want to see them.

He managed to put the key away just as she’d arrived, and he greeted her with as much of a smile as he could manage, given what he’d just been thinking about.

He made it a wide one. She’d no doubt distract him from the thoughts before – she was so beautiful, and lively, and always wanting to do things and to have good things in her life.

It kept him on his toes, that was for sure!

And he liked it that way. They’d no doubt get right into a great marriage and a wonderful adventure soon enough, and she’d be his loving and caring wife. He’d look after her, and she’d look after him, in her own way.

They’d have their life as an adoring married couple, and there would be no more talk or even thinking of what had gone on before. They’d be fine, Lottie would be fine, their home would be fine...

Yes. Everything was going to be just fine…


	11. Chapter 11

**_ Chapter 10 _ **

It was a strange feeling, waking up and knowing that the time at camp had all been used up and later that morning was when they’d be saying goodbye. At least, for the time being (they hoped). It sat with them at breakfast, chewing over the combined thoughts of at last meeting their other parents and putting their long prepared-for plan into action.

It waited with them as all the other girls stood or sat around in the main lounge, tearfully promising to write to their new best friends before being called away back to their parents by Marva. But Lottie and Mia knew they were going to do one better, and they were quietly going over a few last-minute things before one or the other was swept off into a temporary new life.

“They’ll send a limo for you first,” Mia explained. “It’s gonna take you to the airport, and you’ll fly back to New York on our Grandpa’s private jet.”

Lottie raised an incredulous eyebrow, “Wow, a whole private jet?!”

Mia looked more than a little bit pleased with herself, “You’re gonna see – we have a cool Grandpa.”

Lottie couldn’t wait. She’d never gotten to know Grandpa Joseph, so the idea of having a grandfather was an exciting new prospect. Not to get her wrong, she loved her Mémère Marie, but she’d known her all her life! She wanted to meet the people that she hadn’t.

Like Grandpa Stewart. And Uncle Noel. And her Mum...

Bringing herself out of that thought, she nodded, doing it slowly and trying to ignore the fact that her ears were still sore from being freshly pierced, “I know, you said – now I’ve got to see it myself. And you have to get on a much longer flight than me, so...”

She rummaged around in her luggage, pulling out a ticket and a passport.

She handed them to Mia, “Your ticket and your passport. When you pass through that door, you’re gonna be–”

“Charlotte Brightmore!” Marva interrupted from the doorway, announcing it using a bullhorn. “Charlotte Brightmore, your car is here! Front and centre, missy!”

Both girls had leapt to their feet when Marva had yelled. Giggling as they realised the mistake, they grinned at each other once more and embraced in a final “good luck” hug.

“Go see our Dad,” Lottie whispered. “Get him to open up about Mum.”

“I will, if you do the same here,” Mia rubbed her back before pulling away and grabbing her case.

Well, Lottie’s case, but it didn’t matter. She had to be Lottie now.

She took one last look at her sister, before turning away and heading over to where Marva was waiting, as was the car to take her to the airport.

To take her to her Daddy.

She grinned at Marva as she made her way out the door, telling her goodbye in what she hoped was a flawless impression of Lottie’s accent.

Part of her supposed it wouldn’t matter - she was going away, after all, and the camp counsellor wouldn’t be around to ask questions. But in her heart, Mia was also a perfectionist, and if she could start it off exactly right then the rest should be fine, too.

At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. In between internally squealing because in a few hours she’d be in a completely different country! She’d be in England, and she’d be with her Daddy!

She couldn’t wait. Lottie had already told her how loving and generous he was, and that she was expecting there to be a party waiting at the house for when his little girl arrived...

That had reminded Mia of their Mom, who’d obviously have the same sort of party going on at their house.

They were more alike than they probably thought, and it’d be up to their girls to show them that!

Mia was so excited about it that she very nearly threw her bag straight into the trunk of the car, but for the sake of not wanting to break anything, she stopped herself and climbed in the back, greeting the driver as she did.

The drive felt like it had been taking forever, but eventually they pulled up at the airport. Having already been paid, the driver helped her with her bag and pointed her in the direction of the Check-In desk, before leaving her to it.

She checked the time of the flight on the ticket. Noon - that wasn’t long to wait by the time she got through checking in and Security, but it still felt like an eternity!

She wanted the plane to be touching down at London Heathrow already.

She wanted to see her Daddy and be hugged by him. She wanted his eyes to shine at seeing her, and to see him smile, knowing she’d made him happy just by being there. She wanted to spend the day with him, and then be tucked up in bed by him at night, and to go to sleep knowing that he’d be making her breakfast in the morning (just like he did for Lottie).

She’d dreamed of knowing all about him ever since she’d been little. And now, she was mere hours away from having that dream come true.

And as she sat, waiting as the clocks ticked down the seconds towards the flight preparing to board, she hoped she’d end up a dream come true for him as well.

Eventually he’d have to know she was Mia, rather than Lottie, and when he did, she hoped it wouldn’t be so much of a shock that...that he didn’t want her...

He had to like her, didn’t he? She’d do everything to make sure that he did...

And as she was finally allowed to present her ticket and board the flight, that was the only thing on her mind.

She was directed to her seat, and somebody helped her put her carry-on luggage in the overhead bin, and it was all she could think about. She got the window seat, and watched airport life go by outside, but really the only thing she could focus on was how her Daddy would feel about her.

And as the plane taxied down the runway, gathering speed and gaining height, there was only one plea running on a loop in her prayers.

“Please let him like me...please let him like me...please let him like me...”

She had no idea if it would work. Just like she had no idea if hers and Lottie’s plan to get their parents together again would work or not. It could all go spectacularly wrong - he could realise she wasn’t Lottie, or someone else could. She could let it out herself by accident, or confess out of a sudden pang of guilt...

But she was going to be brave. She was going to try to get it all right, to keep to the promise that she’d made with Lottie, and to help her Daddy love her and her Mom again.

And in seven hours, the plan, which she already thought of as in motion, would be at its next stage.


	12. Chapter 12

**_ Chapter 11 _ **

The trip to Heathrow had been one of the longest (if not the longest) and most stressful flights Amelia had ever experienced. Despite the extra-large first-class seat and all the delicious food she’d had on board, her stomach had been in knots and she hadn’t been able to sleep a wink.

All she’d been able to think about, was meeting her father.

What would he say? Would he realise she wasn’t his Lottie? How would he sound? What did he smell like?

What were his hugs like...?

She’d been so anxious she’d almost ran off the airline’s escort when she’d arrived in England, having made a perfect beeline to passport control and then to the arrivals gates. Seeing as her flight had arrived at midday, the whole immigration procedure had taken almost an hour, but eventually, after a charming old woman had welcomed her back into the UK (or rather, after she welcomed Charlotte Brightmore back), Mia had been able to quickly retrieve her luggage and was now heading for the exit at a fast pace.

It didn’t take her long to spot her father – she recognised him straight from the picture she’d had to leave with the real Lottie. But there, she didn’t need it.

Niles Brightmore was directly ahead of her, and so much more than a flat image on some paper. His eyes shone, his mouth stretched into the same lopsided grin she had, and his whole body crouched, ready to scoop her up into a hug.

“Lottie, my sweetheart!”

Sweetheart. He’d called her his sweetheart...!

Hearing it from her father for the first time made Mia feel lighter than air. All she’d really ever thought about, on some level, was what it would be like to have a father.

And now she was going to find out.

She nearly forgot her own accent, remembering it just in time as she shouted back, “Daddy!”

She practically flew into his strong arms, burying her face against him and inhaling the warm scents of cinnamon and vanilla – he smelled of baked goods!

And to Niles, the amount of relief that came over him felt like a tidal wave.

He had his little girl back, right where she belonged, after eight long weeks! She’d be back in her own room that night, in her own bed, after having dinner at their own–

But hang on. Something didn’t feel quite right as he hugged her...

Pulling away to look at his girl, his heart clenched as he noticed just how thin she’d gotten!

“Didn’t they feed you at Camp Walden?” he asked as he pulled away, a little incredulous but not wanting to get angry in front of his daughter. “You’re skin and bones, my girl! We’re going to have to make your favourite tonight, to start feeding you back up!”

He nearly froze then and there, too. He’d been so delighted that he’d overlooked it before, but Lottie had...cut her hair?

It made her look so much like C.C., he had to think about something else before he cried.

Luckily – or unluckily, depending on who you were – he found a distraction.

Underneath her hair, in her earlobes, he could see two tiny pinpricks of reflected light.

 _Earrings_.

She was only eight and she’d gotten earrings!

“Charlotte Brightmore, who pierced your ears?”

Mia froze. She’d not been able to do anything about the fact that Lottie didn’t have pierced ears, but she’d forgotten to take her own set out before she’d arrived!

“Um...I, uh–”

“Lottie! My little papillon!”

The cry of delight distracted both father and daughter, as an older-to-elderly woman hurried over from what looked like a newspaper store, clutching a paper and a bag of different assorted snacks.

Mia felt her chest tighten up. Lottie had told her all about their grandmother, and now she was going to meet Marie Brightmore in person.

“Mémé?” she asked, a smile spreading across her face.

“Oui, ma petite, c’est moi!” Marie said, hugging Mia as tightly as she could. She’d missed her grandchild for all the time she’d been gone, and she was happy to have her back!

Or... well... to have a three quarters of her back – she’d lost quite bit of weight!

“Mon Dieu, Lottie, tu es devenu si maigre!”

Mia didn’t quite know how to reply. She’d been taught French at school (thank God, at any rate – Lottie had told her she and her grandmother often conversed in French, the latter’s first language), but all these insistences that she’d lost weight were making her a little uncomfortable. She was sure she hadn’t, and their looks of concern made her want to snap that she was fine.

But she didn’t. She’d only just met her previously unknown father and grandmother – she wasn’t gonna go ruining anything! Even if it was her sister that would technically get the blame!

She just shook her head a little, thinking up a convenient but non-worrying excuse.

“Oh, well...American food,” she joked, waving a hand dismissively.

Marie nodded in understanding, “Ah, well. Zhey certainly know ‘ow to spread zhe calories but not zhe nutrients, no?”

“We’ll have to do something about that now that you’re home,” Niles put his arm around her back, kissing the top of her head. “Along with those earrings. Which you may keep, as long as you know how to look after them.”

 “I do, don’t worry, Daddy!” Mia replied, hugging her dad – God, she had a dad!

Said dad knew he should be mad at her for having pierced her ears, but at the same time he didn’t want their reunion to be spoiled by trifles such as this. He would obviously keep an eye on her ears, but if he was being honest they looked fine – they weren’t even red!

“Pierced ears?!” Marie cried, not having noticed them before, “I love zhem, Lottie, zhey suit you!”

Mia blushed at her grandmother’s kind words. She was so different from her Grandma B.B.! Marie was plump, kind and overall the traditional image of what a grandmother should look like! Grandma B.B., although Mia thought her to be the coolest and most chic grandmother on Earth, wasn’t the grandmotherly type. She took her shopping and on exotic trips, but she’d never cooked her dinner, knitted her a scarf or crushed her in a bear hug...

That, however, seemed to be Marie’s area of expertise.

“Thank you, Mémé,” Mia replied, “My friend Amelia pierced my ears at camp.”

Niles had gone to take the handle of his little girl’s suitcase, but he stopped before he could get there.

 _Amelia_. That was his other girl’s name – the daughter who lived with C.C., whom he never got to see...

Marie noticed his awkward-looking position and quirked an eyebrow, “Niles, ‘as your back given way again?”

He shook his head. He was fine. He was just so wrapped up in thinking...

Maybe...maybe she’d been there too, and the girls just hadn’t realised there was any connection?

He had to find out. He had to know what she was like – how was she? What did she enjoy doing? Had she inherited anything from him, like skills or talents?

But he had to be careful about how he asked. Lottie wasn’t to know, and this was supposed to be her moment, not the moment of a daughter he was never going to even meet.

With a heavy heart, he finished grabbing her suitcase and put his Dad Mode Curiosity to full-force.

“Amelia, hm?” he tried his hardest to sound nonchalant, and not overly eager to hear what she had to say. “Where was she from, then?”

Amelia realised her mistake the moment her father made his question. They’d agreed with Lottie that they wouldn’t mention each other’s name if asked if they’d made any friends at Camp; at least not until it was time for them to reveal their true identities to their parents!

Well... as her mother would say, show must go on.

Time to improvise.

“Oh... my friend Amelia?” she said, also trying to sound nonchalant and cheerful. “She’s... uh... well...”

“Didn’t she tell?” Niles asked again, wanting to press the issue but also not wanting Lottie (or who he believed to be Lottie) picking up on his interest for this Amelia girl.

He didn’t know what he would do if it really was his other daughter. It wasn’t like he could pick up the phone and call... Babcock. They had agreed they would never see each other again (actually, it was more like she had made that choice and he’d obeyed), and he was fairly certain her resolve to never see him again hadn’t yielded in the past eight years. Otherwise she would have contacted them already…

“Oh, of course she did! We got to know each other well when were in the isolation cabin together...”

Crap.

Again, Mia realised she’d screwed up only after she’d spoken.

So much for posing as her sister without raising suspicions!

“What?!” Niles cried, “Isolation Cabin?”

“Oh, we were sent there after we played a couple of harmless pranks on one another, that’s all...” Mia said, laughing nervously.

Niles felt a strange kind of tension coming over him. Part of it was pride, that much he could tell – the fact that his girl was so much like him had never ceased to amaze. There was also a sense of familiarity about it, because not only would he have probably done the same at her age, but Lottie also often liked to play little jokes around the house. Never anything too drastic. He’d never told her about the things he and Babcock used to get up to. Mostly because it hurt him to even think of it himself.

“What kind of pranks?” he asked, hoping some kind of brevity might take his mind off Babcock.

Lottie mistook it for him getting ready to scold, “Oh, nothing too bad! Just...well, uh...hiding clothes...and…other things around the bunkhouse...we argued a bit at first, too.”

Hiding things from each other and getting into fights. So much for not thinking about Babcock. And there was every chance in the world that it had been his two girls imitating their parents!

Niles briefly gritted his teeth, before pushing the pain back down. It was all too much, but he couldn’t just stop.

“Hm. I see,” he said, considering still. “And then the two of you got to know each other?”

He imagined the two of them – identical little girls, realising they were far more than just acquaintances. He wondered if they’d trade names and family history, swap pictures, and talk about family stories...

It lifted his spirits.

“Yep,” Lottie told him. “That’s when she, uh...told me that she was from California!”

And immediately the lifting sensation was gone, replaced with a sinking one.

California. This other Amelia was from California...

Of course there was going to be more than one Amelia in the entire United States! He’d been a fool to think that it might’ve been her.

No, that Mia was in some fine home with her mother somewhere, and he had no way of reaching either of them. And they had to be getting to their own home, which wasn’t going to be achieved by standing around an airport arrivals’ area!

So he began to direct his daughter and his mother towards the exit, trying to put Amelia out of his mind by quietly making a noise of interest to where Lottie’s friend had been from and then talking about other things.

“So, you did end up enjoying the camp after all?” he asked as they made their way out towards where the car was parked.

Mia really had. And her happiness was only increased in the knowledge that she was getting away with this huge lie she was pulling.

“I did, yeah,” she answered, taking his hand as they got close to the door.

She was stepping out into a new (if temporary) life.

She wondered how the actual Lottie was getting on. She could imagine her Mom calling out the lie right away. But as of yet, they hadn’t had any phone calls...

And hopefully, that was how it would remain for a while.

 

* * *

 

Despite having been born into money, Lottie had always been taught by her father and grandmother that she ought to be grateful for all the goods that she possessed. Niles had insisted on teaching her the importance of saving and working for her money, hence her having to get good marks at school and do chores around the house to get her (admittedly hefty) monthly allowance of five-hundred quid.

Lottie knew her Daddy (and by extension, she herself) was rich, but he’d made it clear that money wasn’t something to be splurged as though there was no tomorrow. No, it was a mean to have nice experiences, but it should be used with care – after all, it is never good to have too much of a good thing.

Clearly, the Babcock family had a different view where money was concerned.

Again, she had always lived in luxury, gone to the best public schools (Amelia’s expression upon finding out that in the UK public schools were privately funded had been priceless) and enjoyed from all the commodities money could buy, but the Babcocks...

They were the textbook definition of American millionaires.

She should’ve guessed they would be – the plane (property of her dearest grandfather Stewart) she’d gotten to New York City in had been enough to tell her that. It had been the first time in Lottie’s life that she’d ever travelled in a private jet, and for as long as they kept the pretence up, she doubted it would be the last.

 _Her grandfather’s jet_. It was an idea she had to get used to...!

The entire middle of the plane was one big living-dining room – sofas and chairs everywhere, a large-screen TV hooked up to a DVD player, and even a nice table set out with food and drink for the flight!

She’d sampled some of practically everything, and was still tasting chocolate in her mouth when she came through the gate into the arrivals’ area.

But her mother wasn’t there. She didn’t worry, though – Mia had told her about this – if their mother was busy at work, another family member often picked her up instead.

Lottie supposed this made sense – it was what their Daddy did; if he was working, he got Grandmére Marie to come help out.

But the woman who’d come for her was no grandmother – she was too young, had a full head of dark brown hair, combed through and loose, and she was wearing the brightest colours Lottie thought she’d ever seen.

Her cry of delight upon seeing her could have been heard all the way to London, Lottie thought, politely referring to it in her mind as a nasal, “Mia! Hi, Mia!”

That had to be Aunt Fran.

Mia had told Lottie about Aunt Fran. She hadn’t been able to wait to meet such a character, and now...

Now it was happening.

“Fran!” Lottie waved at the woman and made a run for her, leaving one of her grandfather Stewart’s employees to deal with her luggage. At home her Daddy wouldn’t have allowed her to do that!

Fran brought her into a tight hug, so much so she almost smothered the girl! Luckily, she loosened her grasp just enough for Lottie to take a much needed gulp of air while Fran checked her over.

“My Gawd, ya look fabulous!” exclaimed the woman, pressing a hand to her cheek and beaming brightly at her unofficial niece. “That camp was just watcha needed, wasn’t it?”

Lottie blushed; being British, she was not used to big and noisy shows of affection, but she was finding out that she... kind of liked them. Even if that attempted against her Britishness.

Well, she was half American, wasn’t she?

“Thanks, Fran,” Lottie replied, remembering to put on her American accent. “It really was great!”

Fran grinned, “Good! Come on, the car’s waitin’ – you can tell me how many ya swindled outta their cash when ya played poker!”

She nudged Lottie playfully, imagining the girl to start boasting. But nothing came out, and the girl looked like...well, like she was unsure.

And Lottie kind of was.

Just beyond the airport terminal was their car. Just a little bit beyond that was the street their house was on. And just behind said house’s door, was a whole family, waiting for her...

She had every reason in the world to be scared. But she also had every reason in the world to be happy – she was meeting her Mummy for the first time! How could she not be happy about that?!

They were her family. They loved her as Mia and one day they’d love her as Lottie, too.

They’d pulled out all the stops for her arrival, too. The car Fran had mentioned was in actual fact a small limousine, and it was being attended to by a chauffeur.

They were off as soon as her bags were loaded into the trunk.

Her face was practically glued to the window as they drove back, eyes scanning the bright yellow taxis (making London’s black uniform ones look incredibly formal) and the high-rise buildings that made up the New York skyline.

Fran must’ve been watching her, because she chuckled.

“Excited ta be back, sweetie?” she asked. “Ya really must’ve missed the place!”

Lottie could only think about how Fran really did have no idea. She was fooling a close family member so far – perhaps getting away with the switch would be easier than planned?

But she had to be careful as well – she might’ve been staring out too much, looking like any other tourist who’d never come to the Big Apple before.

She tore herself away from the amazing view, and grinned at Fran.

“It just...feels so good to be home!” she told her.

“I bet it does!” Fran agreed enthusiastically. “I bet ya can’t wait ta see yer Ma, huh?”

Lottie’s heart gave a great leap. Her mother. She was finally going to meet her mother, whom she’d thought of as this cool and collected woman, smart and sassy, from the little her Daddy had told her. The rest had been left to her imagination, and then to what Mia had told her when they’d swapped home life experiences.

And apparently, Mia got near enough everything. Her mother adored her, and no one else could compare in her eyes.

It all sounded extremely inviting for Lottie. She’d never known her mother, but it had begun to feel like she had. And hopefully it would be enough to convince her for long enough to make the plan worthwhile.

“Nope,” Lottie said, shaking her head a little, “I’ve missed her a lot.”

“She missed ya too, honey,” Fran said, wrapping an arm around the young girl, “We all did.”

Lottie felt a lump forming in her throat. She was aware that the girl they’d missed wasn’t her, but in her heart she allowed a small beacon of hope to blossom – maybe, someday in the near future, they would receive her as Lottie, and not as her sister. Maybe, someday in the future, it would be Lottie herself who was the girl they’d missed.

But there was no sense in wasting a perfect opportunity to meet her family. She had to keep up the charade and give herself and her sister time to bond with their respective families. It was a time for celebration, not sadness.

It was time for her to finally meet the mother she’d dreamed of seeing since she was little.

The limo eventually parked in front of an imposing French-style townhouse; the door was decorated with pink and turquoise balloons, all tied to the golden knocker. Just above them, there was a welcome banner decorated with glitter, and it read _“Welcome Home Mia!”_.

Getting out of the car to take a closer look, Lottie nearly gave her game away by bursting into tears. Her sister had been right – their mother adored Mia! And setting up the doorway like that was obviously proof.

Lottie remembered the front doorways of classmates whenever there’d been a birthday party. This felt very much like that, only maybe grander.

Grander, because it was for her, and all to meet a very important woman.

She took another few steps up towards the house. To think, she was only moments away from meeting her mother...!

She was practically buzzing by the time Fran came to join her on the steps, having been grabbing Lottie’s luggage from

“Ya ready ta go in?” she teased, knowing full well that answer already.

Lottie knew the answer, too. She couldn’t wait, and whatever anything was anymore, it could wait.

She nodded rapidly, and Fran let out a soft laugh.

“Well, I decide that we’re not gonna get anywhere by just sittin’ here doin’ nothin,” she took a spare key and unlocked the door.

As the door was slowly pushed open, Lottie’s heartbeat fastened, so much so the girl feared it would burst out of her chest. She was home. She was steps away from her mother...

She was moments away from seeing the woman who’d carried her in her belly and brought her into this world.

She was moments away from getting the hug of a lifetime.

But behind the door, there was no one. The lights were off and there was an odd silence in the house. Was... was her mother still at work? Lottie could understand if she was, but she couldn’t help the sinking feeling when–

“Surprise!”

She nearly leapt out of her skin so hard, she ended up jumping back out of the threshold. But she just about kept a hold of herself, hoping no one noticed that she sounded British when she shrieked.

Luckily the shouters were caught up in their own merriment, so it barely even registered.

They barely even registered to Lottie, because in amongst them, she had spotted the woman she’d waited a lifetime to see.

C.C. Babcock… _her mother._

Her mother, who was grinning all over her face and opening her arms for a hug.

“Mia, my darling!”

Lottie didn’t even hesitate. She ran straight to her and threw her arms around her, to a small chorus of adoring croons. It was better than Lottie had ever imagined. Her mother felt warm, and soft, and she smelled like rich perfume...

She was safe where she was, and she never wanted to leave her mother’s arms again, not even to greet the people who’d come to welcome Mia home as well!

C.C. pressed a sound kiss to her hair, “I missed you, my baby girl...!”

Lottie snuggled in further against her, relishing in the love and affection she was receiving.

What she wouldn’t give for her Daddy to be able to see...

But that wasn’t possible yet. The plan had only just started, and they had to stick to it if they were going to get anywhere.

For the time being, she just had to enjoy.

“I missed you too, Mom,” she mumbled.

She really had, too. Even though she hadn’t had her in her life before, she’d missed not having a mother there. Other girls in her school went shopping with their mothers, they talked about things dads didn’t understand, they had them to look up to...

Her Daddy and Mémé did their best to make sure she never lacked fun days out, or shoulders to cry on, or people to look up to, but it wasn’t the same for her as having a Mummy as well.

But now she did. And she wasn’t going to give her up any time soon.

She’d only been able to dream of this moment before, and even that hadn’t compared to the real thing. Even with pictures, she hadn’t been able to see just how much she looked like her mother - a flat surface of a front-facing picture hadn’t been able to show her the fact that their noses were the same shape in silhouette, and the lighting hadn’t been able to show perfectly that their hair matched in colour, and so did their eyes...

She could finally see exactly how much she was a replica, and she hugged her mother all the harder for it.

“Hey, I know that it’s you two gals against the world,” interrupted the joking voice of an older man. “But could I get in on some of this?”

Lottie could guess at who the voice belonged to - her Grandpa Stewart, who spoiled Mia rotten and would certainly do the same with her. She’d never had a grandpa either, and was looking forward to seeing what that was like as well.

Chuckling, like she knew Mia would do if she were there, she turned and greeted him as her sister would.

“Hi, Grandpa!” she cried, rushing to embrace him. “I missed you!”

Stewart squeezed her, and ruffled her hair, “What a coincidence, I missed you, too! Hey, now that you’re back, you and I are gonna spend some one-on-one time, on a weekend or something–”

“Now, now, Stewart – you cannot be hoarding all of Mia’s attention all of the time!” an older, finely dressed woman who could only be her Grandma B.B. came forward. “Hello, Mia, my darling!”

Offering a grin at the face Grandpa Stewart pulled, Lottie turned and politely accepted the light hug that B.B. offered and greeted her. Mia had told her the woman was like this, and she didn’t want to set the wrong impression by being overzealous to the wrong people.

Luckily, it all went out the window when it came to her Uncle Noel.

“Hey, kiddo!” he cried out when it came to his turn for a hug. “Did you get me anything nice while you were away?”

Lottie laughed, “It was mostly trees and dirt out there!”

“Oh,” Noel feigned pouting for a moment, but was soon back to his cheerful self as he released her. “Ah, that’s okay! You can make it up to me another time!”

Lottie laughed again, rolling her eyes and turning to the last person she still had to meet - her Aunt Fran’s husband, Uncle Maxwell.

The man her Mummy and Daddy had worked for, for all those years...

“Hello, Mia!” Maxwell beamed, his voice jolly as she came over for a hug. “How was your trip?”

“It was amazing!” she chirped, welcoming Maxwell’s hug and then pulling away, “I did so much fun stuff!”

“That’s wonderful, sweetheart!” her mum interjected, joining in the conversation and coming to wrap an arm around her shoulders. “Did you make any friends?”

Oh, that she had, Lottie thought. She’d made an extremely special friend indeed…

Not that she could tell (all) the truth to her mummy – she had to play it cool for the time being, and try and enjoy from the time she was spending with her family. They had only a few more weeks to execute their plan (after all, they had to be back to their respective homes before school began!), but for now they could allow themselves a few days to simply have fun and enjoy from the family they’d never met before.

“I did, Mom,” Lottie said, leaning into her mother; she’d imagined her scent so many times before, but not even her best fantasies came close to how amazing the real thing was! “A lot of them, actually.”

“Ah, looks like you are taking after your favourite uncle!” piped a smirking Noel, “Unlike your Ma here, I was the–”

“–biggest gossip that has ever set foot on God’s green Earth,” completed C.C., “And you can’t deny that.”

“Not with a straight face, at least,” Stewart added as he, too, joined in on the conversation and elicited a small round of laughter from the rest of the family, including Noel himself.

“Well, what can I say?” he had to shrug. “I enjoy the dramatic narratives presented to us in everyday life.”

Lottie remembered the word “narrative”. Her Daddy had told her that it meant the same as “story”, when she’d come across it in a book she’d read. She very nearly looked too pleased with herself at the idea of Uncle Noel also liking the dramatic story that she and Mia were trying to set up.

She hoped he - and the rest of the family - would, anyway. She hadn’t asked Mia how often they all talked about their Daddy. They might not like him at all, for all she knew!

If that was the case, she was going to have a task on her hands. She so very much wanted them all to get along, and if she could make them realise that they could, then her mission would be accomplished!

But all the adults were, obviously, unaware of all of this. They were still busy chatting about what Noel had just said.

“More like you relish it, dear brother of mine!” C.C. retorted. “If gossip was money, you’d be rolling around naked on a bed piled with it!”

Noel took on a fake look of offence, “How dare you suggest I would ever do anything as conventional as roll around naked in a pile of money! I have far more class than the fantasies a lot of people share - next thing we know, you’ll be telling me that I’d try to swim in it!”

C.C. could only laugh at her brother’s feigned haughtiness, and she folded her arms, leaning in with an amused (if disbelieving) look on her face.

“Oh, you would, Noel! You might try to fool those university professor colleagues of yours with this little façade, but you can’t fool your family!”

Lottie smiled to herself. Luckily, it could easily be mistaken for her trying not to laugh at her mother catching her uncle out, but in reality it was because she wanted - so very, very badly - to say that some façades could fool family.

But that would lead to questions, and the whole thing would be over far sooner than planned. So, she had to keep quiet about it.

She was beyond starting to enjoy herself, and she was going to make the most of the time she had, until she could safely let the cat out of the bag.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**_ Chapter 12 _ **

 She’d barely been able to stop bouncing in her seat, ever since her father had announced that they were almost home. Of course, she hadn’t been able to be as open about her excitement as she wanted (Lottie lived there all the time, she’d soon get over the rush of going home), but she was managing it really well.

Though that almost went completely out the window the minute they pulled up outside their mansion and she was able to get out and see.

She stood stock still when she did, just staring at the house her Daddy and sister called home, all the time...

It wasn’t as big as her house was, back home in New York, but it was just as grand. Her Mom might’ve called the whole place “imposing”, and part of Mia found that she had to agree. But, not in a bad way – it was just another feature of the house. Like part if the description. It probably had something to do with the fact that from counting the windows, it looked like there were at least five floors, and the house was far taller than it was wide.

It also had to be, like, at least a hundred years older than their house - British people really seemed to love old houses!

“Home sweet home, right my girl?” chirped her father, coming to wrap an arm around Mia´s shoulders. He was pleased to see the joy so clear in his little one’s face. She’d clearly missed home, even if he knew the wonder in her eyes would soon melt away in favour of a more normal apathy that came from seeing their home every single day.

“Zhe house was too quiet zhis summer!” added her grandmother, rummaging her handbag for her house keys, “And zhe kitchen ‘as not been used as much – we ‘ave to get baking as soon as possible!”

“And we will,” said Niles, squeezing Mia´s shoulders, “But first, we’d better go in and help you unpack!”

“That sounds good, Daddy,” replied Mia, eager to go into the house. She’d seen it in pictures and she knew where every room was, but one thing was seeing it on a piece of paper and another was actually being in there, witnessing it all first hand.

Mia had told her that, usually, whenever they came back home for a trip, they always took a few moments to relax, unpack, and then they went out for dinner or tea. She couldn’t wait to be out and about with her family, and to start getting to know them better. She would have to see about avoiding the baking, though – neither she nor her mother could cook anything for the life of them. She and Lottie had taken the short cooking class at Camp Walden, but Mia doubted it would be enough for her to be as good as Lottie was.

She’d have to tread with care, but that was that.

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Niles said, “We can’t stand here all day burning daylight, can we?”

She felt a little burst of excitement pop in her chest, like a tiny firework. She was more than ready to go in, and to experience life as only her sister had before.

A life that, with a little bit of planning and luck, they might both get to experience...

She shook her head to her father’s question, and let him lead her up towards the front door.

Marie used her key to open it, seeing father and daughter so inseparable that Niles probably wouldn’t take his own set of keys out to unlock the door. She then pushed it open, beaming brightly as she helped her son usher their girl into the house, pulling her luggage inside afterwards.

And Mia gazed around the hallway in wonder. It might’ve looked basically the same as the one in her own house, if smaller, but she couldn’t help it. This was the hallway of her father’s house - the place she never thought she’d get to see, let alone live in for any amount of time!

And when her Daddy followed her in, he grinned to see her so happy, even if he couldn’t really know why.

“It must feel odd, to be back in a big, brick house after living in those little cabins for all that time!” he hugged her again around the shoulders. “But, you get your own room back again!”

Not quite, Mia thought to herself as she beamed up at her father – she got her _sister’s_ room back. Not that it worried her, she’d seen enough pictures of Lottie’s room while at camp. Not to mention the many hours spent memorising the many diagrams that Lottie had made for her to learn where she kept everything in her room.

Not that she’d told this to Lottie, but Mia had been rather surprised of how neat and organised Lottie was. She hadn’t thought it possible for a normal human being to keep their room in perfect conditions all the time, yet the photos Lottie had shown her of her room were proof that Mia had been wrong. At home, Mia didn’t really mind about keeping her room neat and in order – much like her mom’s study, Mia’s room was a small chaos. She was rather proud of her mess, if he was being honest, but since she was impersonating her sister, she couldn’t allow herself to slip and be messy. It would represent a challenge, there was no denying, but she had to make the effort. She’d promised herself and Lottie she’d do her very best to keep up the charade until it was time to come clean.

So, for the next few days, she was to be the epitome of neatness.

How hard could it be anyway?

“Why don’t you and your grandmother ran along upstairs?” Niles asked, putting Mia’s luggage down, “Or would you rather I made you something for lunch?”

Mia shook her head – she wasn’t hungry, and part of her really wanted to see her sister’s room. A room that was hers now!

“I am not hungry, Daddy,” she said, picking up the bag Niles had just laid down, “I’ll go unpack now! Can I go to the pool later?!”

But Niles didn’t answer her question. He’d apparently picked up on something else, which he wanted to address first.

He cocked his head to one side, frowning in concern, “Not hungry? That doesn’t sound like my girl very much - you’re usually keen and eager for  a meal after a long trip,” he said, and looked at his wristwatch, “and it is lunchtime...”

Mia felt her insides freeze. Lottie hadn’t mentioned anything about how much she might want food after coming back from a trip - she must’ve either forgotten or thought it wasn’t that important!

But she shouldn’t have, and it was!

And now Mia was stuck, because she wasn’t acting how she should be. It was lunchtime, and Lottie didn’t act like that at lunch. Would that lead to her Daddy noticing too much? What would he say if it all came out?

And how could Mia face Lottie again, if the cat was let out of the bag because of this?

“You’re not feeling unwell, are you?” Niles asked, something in his voice suggesting he’d raise hell with the whole camp if they’d given his girl a bug or food poisoning. “You did eat well in America, didn’t you?”

It made Mia feel...warm, knowing her Daddy loved her so much that he’d probably fly out himself to take action if she said so much as a negative word about it.

Ironically, that wasn’t something she was going to lie about. And only partially because if she did and they did end up going back, the entire ruse could unravel.

She had to accept, didn’t she?

“Yeah, I did,” she replied, her mind still searching for an excuse but coming up with nothing. “I...guess I’m still on America time. But...maybe eating will help me start to get back into British time...”

That made her Daddy smile a little more, even if he did still look a little thoughtful (and maybe suspicious?) about the whole thing.

“It’s certainly worth a try, isn’t it?” he asked her brightly, patting her on the shoulder and gesturing back further into the house - towards the kitchen, Mia knew, from her talks with Lottie. “Come on; drop your bag by the stairs and come help me choose something. You can put your things away after you’ve eaten.”

Mia did as she was told, and started to follow him into the back of the house. But, as they went along, her Daddy began looking at her like he was nervous.

Like he had to tell her something.

And it was out before she knew it.

“There’s also somebody waiting in the kitchen that I’d like you to meet.”

What?

Who else was there on her Daddy’s side of the family that Mia had to meet? Lottie had only told her about their Daddy and about their Mémère - had she forgotten to tell her about some other, secret relative that they were due to meet at some stage?! Who could this person be?!

It struck her so hard that all she could think to say was “Oh”, and keep walking.

Her Daddy kept talking to her the whole way, probably about how much she was going to like this mystery person, but Mia was too busy letting all her own questions go around in her head. How would she be related to them? What was she going to say to them, if they were left alone in conversation?

Would she be able to fool them into thinking she was Lottie, too?

Only time would tell, as they stepped into the kitchen...

And Mia came face to face with a beautiful young woman, with a heart-shaped face and glossy red hair, who was sat primly and properly at the table, with one long leg crossed over the other beneath it, her heel almost touching the table leg.

Niles placed both hands on Mia’s shoulders, and when she looked up at him, he was back to beaming.

“Sweetheart,” he began, sounding like he was building up to something huge. “I would like you to meet Kathleen Myers, my publicist and personal assistant, at the restaurant.”

That looked like it must’ve been some kind of cue for Kathleen, because she uncrossed her legs and turned more in her seat, leaning forward and letting a huge, tooth-showing grin spread across her face.

“So this is the famous Lottie!” she declared loudly. Too loudly, when combined with the crocodile smile on her face and the cheerfulness that never left her voice to reach her eyes. “Oh, I’ve heard so much about you!”

Mia blinked back at her, not knowing what the heck was going on.

Who was this kind of weird lady? Why was it so important to her Daddy that she met one of his employees?

Why had he told her about Lottie?

“Yes,” her Daddy continued talking to this Kathleen lady as though there was nothing wrong in the world. “All of it good, all of it right, and with plenty of room to get to know more!”

In fact, he was talking like a man who was living in his own completely happy world!

And what did he mean by “get to know more”? What would she be spending time with a member of her Daddy’s staff for?

Not that any of her questions were currently being answered, as Kathleen waved a dismissive hand and let out a soft laugh.

“Oh, it feels like I know her already, this is practically just a formality!”

Now, that (along with them talking basically over her head without addressing her) just confused Mia even more. Why did it sound like they’d been planning this meeting for a while? Lottie hadn’t told her anything about this person - didn’t she know?

Why would their Daddy possibly want to surprise either of them with a meeting with his assistant?

Not that she had any time to ask – her Dad was practically frogmarching her to the seat next to the assistant, which she reluctantly took. She was feeling an awful lot like a lamb for the slaughter, and Kathleen might as well have been holding a butcher’s knife.

There was something about the woman that made Mia uneasy, but given how exited her Dad was about her sharing some time with this Kathleen lady, she thought it best if she kept quiet. After all, how long could she stay there for? In a good few hours she’d be out of their home, and Mia would then be able to get on with the next stage of _Get-Mom-and-Dad-Back-Together_ operation.

So, for her Dad’s sake, she tried to smile at Kathleen as her Dad pulled up Mia’s chair so she could sit comfortably. Her Mom had taught her that, sometimes, you have to be nice to people you don’t necessarily like, and although to Mia it didn’t make much sense (something she’d made sure to make clear to her Mom),she’d heeded that advice. Her Mom knew how to deal with people, so Mia had figured up very early on that she’d better follow her advice.

“Now, while you two ladies chitchat,” her Dad said, clapping his hands together and beaming brightly, “I’ll go and make us some nice pork chops with fried vegetables. Does that sound okay to you?”

“It’s wonderful!” Kathleen said, speaking before Mia could put even a word on edgeways, “And don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your little princess!”

“Vous pourrez, si vous savez ce qui est bon pour vous…”

That...sounded like her Mémère, coming from just outside the room...

Why did she say she would do so, if she knew what was good for her?

Turning in the direction of the low, grumbling French, she noticed Marie coming into the kitchen. She was greeted by Niles (who gave her a stern look, for her mutterings) and offered him an innocent hello in return, but there was something different about her attitude than before - she seemed to turn colder, or more bitter after that...

And she appeared to be directing it all right at Kathleen.

Kathleen, who either hadn’t noticed the resentment directed at her, or was deliberately ignoring it. Not knowing anything about her, and only being able to guess, left Mia wondering and considering all possibilities.

Although, it was hard to imagine that the woman she was sat next to knew French, for some reason. So, there could be a real chance she didn’t actually know that anything was wrong...

She certainly greeted Marie like nothing was wrong. She practically leapt out of her seat, arms thrown wide open and crying aloud.

“Ah, bon-jour, Marie!” her French accent was awful, that was for sure, and she paused before her, as though waiting to be invited or accepted into a hug. “Tu est...um...qu’est-ce...are you well?”

She settled on the slightly louder English, which made Mia want to laugh a little bit. But she held back, not wanting to miss Marie’s reaction.

“J'ai eu des meilleurs jours,” Marie briskly replied, taking a seat on the chair directly opposite to Kathleen’s, ignoring her pathetic attempt to hug her. “Particulièrement quand tu n'es pas là.”

Mia had to make an effort not to gasp at her grandmother’s words – had… had she just said that she had had better days when Kathleen _wasn’t_ around?! By the sound of things, Marie did _not_ like this woman. Not one bit. Lottie had told her that their Grandmother was the most wonderful and kind person to ever step a foot on this Earth,  but that she’d better run for the hills if she ever incurred in her Grandmother’s wrath (which, apparently, was not an easy thing to do).

Mia couldn’t help but wonder what this woman had done to upset Marie. She’d ask later, when Kathleen was gone – if what Lottie had told her about Marie was true, then she’d tell her. They had the kind of grandmother-granddaughter bond where they confided in one another, and she was certain Marie would be more than happy to share the reasons behind her dislike for Kathleen.

What was more, Mia was starting to feel she shared the feeling.

“Maman, _English_!” Niles warned Maire; he was smiling still, but Mia could see it was a forced smile, “You know Kathleen only speaks English.”

Even Kathleen turned to Marie then, not looking like she completely understood the situation that was going on around her, and smiled at Marie while she took back her seat.

It was a simpering smile; one which made it clear that she was only in on about half of the situation. Probably the stuff that Niles told her, and not much else.

“That’s right, Marie! I’m trying my absolute best and hardest to get to grips with your language, but you know me,” there was that laugh again. It sounded even faker that time. “Always so busy with just about everything! I hardly find the time to sit down and seriously study anything...”

Mia caught her grandmother’s gaze, just out of the corner of Marie’s eye, and for a moment they shared a knowing - if slightly disbelieving on Mia’s part - look. She didn’t understand what was going on still, and no one was really making it any clearer to her with any of this stuff, but Kathleen’s attitude was getting under both their skins.

That seemed to be obvious to everyone (even if her Dad was only involved because he was trying to diffuse the situation a bit), apart from Kathleen.

One thing was certain there - her grandmother was completely taking advantage of Kathleen not knowing French!

Mia was...kind of loving it, if she was honest. Not that she’d admit it out loud –not when she could see that Marie wasn’t being let off the hook for it by her Dad.

Along with the whole secret she was keeping, it felt like something else that might change too much if it got told yet. Not that it didn’t again make her curious – her Dad seemed awfully concerned with exactly how much Marie was saying. Since when was an employee worth quite so much that you’d sooner turn on your family when they apparently didn’t like them?

She had to be _some_ personal assistant, for that to really be the case!

Not that that mattered at all to Marie. The older woman just tutted and shook her head.

“La fille ne comprend pas! Trop occupé à remplir ses poches...”

“Maman!” came another warning from Niles that Marie was obviously going to openly ignore.

However, for the sake of peace at lunchtime, Marie opted to settle for some sort of relatively happy medium – that, of course, meant not speaking one word to Kathleen.

Although not ideal, that seemed to be good enough for Niles who, after offering an apologetic look at Kathleen, got on with making lunch for the four of them, leaving the three women alone. Mia could immediately sense the tension between the two older women – Kathleen was smiling still, but there was something about the way she was looking at Marie (who was making her best effort to blatantly ignore the assistant) made Mia slightly uneasy.

Like there was a darker side to Kathleen which was being kept carefully hidden.

The woman seemed to notice Mia´s stare, and she turned her attention towards the small girl.

“So, Lottie,” she began, propping her chin on her hand, “How was camp?”

She should’ve known the questions would soon start up in her direction, after that. Grownups were always asking how she found things like school or day trips out, so her camping trip would have to get the same treatment.

In truth, there was more to say about it than she’d usually have for coming home after school had ended. And she didn’t feel like being left in the awkward silence that nobody talking to each other left behind.

Even if it was Kathleen who was doing the asking.

But she didn’t feel like she could bring herself to have a full-blown conversation with her. She had to find a way around that...

She traced patterns on the table with one finger while she thought.

“It was...good,” she eventually said in return. Filling the silence felt a little better, but she had figured in the thinking time that she didn’t have to make the answers any more detailed than they had to be. “I had a lot of fun there.”

That seemed to be Kathleen’s cue to launch an elaborate spiel in how she also used to go to summer camps when she was a child and what fun it was to spend the summer away from home. Not that Mia wished to do so, but Kathleen was so centred in her own little speech that she didn’t leave room for the little girl to interject – not even to ask about Kathleen’s experience or share her own.

Mia and Marie shared a knowing look a few minutes into Kathleen’s tirade. A look that spoke volumes of how the two felt about having to listen to her mindless (and, frankly, boring) stories.

Luckily for them, Niles was soon back with their drinks (wine for Marie and Kathleen and juice for little Mia), and his arrival provided them with the perfect opportunity to move the conversation away from the redhead’s childhood.

“Zhank you, son,” Marie said loudly, cutting Kathleen off, “I needed zhis…!”

Niles fixed his mother with a hard look, “Don’t mention it Maman. Is your juice okay, Lottie?”

“Delicious!” said the girl, fearing that, if she stayed silent for long, Kathleen would seize the opportunity and switch the conversation back to her and her idiotic anecdotes, “It’s better than the one we had at camp!”

“I can imagine,” he said bitterly, walking back to the cooker, “You clearly haven’t been eating much.”

Marie nodded, agreeing with her son. “Indeed. You ‘ave lost a lot of weight, my dear! We need to feed you proper meals for a change.”

“I think she looks wonderful,” interjected Kathleen, “After all, skinny is always best!”

Mia saw her grandmother openly frown (and very nearly glare) at that. She knew what Kathleen was saying was bad, but looking at Marie’s face made her understand just how bad it was.

“Wizh all due respect,” she began, her voice implying that the level of respect owed was none, “I do not zhink zhat zhat is correct to say to a growing child. Especially at Lottie’s age! Zhey are delicate!”

Kathleen didn’t appear to agree. At least, not in the same way.

She shrugged, “All the more reason to start – get them when it really has an impact, and it’ll sink in for life!”

She then addressed Mia directly again, looking her right in the eyes as she spoke.

“The only way to survive school and to come out of it on top is to be popular. And you can only be popular if you’re pretty - which, luckily you are - and thin. No one’ll care about anything else, as long as you have those. Everything else that you need will practically be handed to you on a plate!”

Kathleen wasn’t even done talking when Marie loudly pushed back her chair and she declared (in French, of course) she was done. Niles didn’t try to stop her when she marched out of the room, probably wanting to let her blow some steam so as to diffuse the situation. He’d wanted Lottie’s coming back home to be perfect, but it was clearly going South.

He didn’t agree with what Kathleen had said – not in the slightest. Those were words he didn’t want Lottie to live by, but he’d tell this to Kathleen later, when they were alone. He didn’t want their lunch to be ruined, and he wanted Lottie to feel welcome.

“Who wants some pork chops?” he asked loudly, trying to distract the two women in his life from what had just happened.

It seemed to work with Kathleen, because she was soon sticking her hand up in the air, like a little kid, and beaming brightly.

“I do!” cried the redhead, “Your cooking is to die for, right Lottie?” she asked the girl, nudging her on the side.

Mia didn’t know what to say to that. Lottie had told her that their Dad was the best cook she’d ever known, but the way Kathleen just suddenly switched like that, practically changing personality...it was creeping her out!

She doubted it would be well-received if she didn’t answer, though. Not that she cared much about Kathleen’s reaction - it was her Dad’s that she minded about.

He was looking at her really hopefully, clearly wanting to make sure she was still enthusiastic at the prospect of his food. After their conversation in the hallway earlier, she supposed it was understandable - he wanted to make sure she was eating alright.

“Yeah,” she replied, trying to gather some excitement and hoping that she was directing it at her father instead of this stranger who was in no way good at bonding. Not that she wanted to make her better at it and therefore bond with her in the first place. “Your cooking is amazing, Daddy...”

Niles’ face lit up at that, and he settled a couple of plates down in front of them.

“Somebody’s clearly after her dessert, as well,” he teased with a chuckle. “Which is just as well, because I made your favourite...!”

Mia managed a smile back at him, but didn’t start to eat until he had gotten himself his own plate and he was back at the table.

And only then, it was because it would’ve looked suspicious if she hadn’t. There would’ve been questions as to why she hadn’t touched any of it, or really appeared to have even started...

The last thing she wanted right then was more questions - from her Dad, or from the lady she was already sure she disliked.

She still didn’t get why Kathleen had to be there. Her Dad hadn’t explained that whole thing yet, and it was starting to make Mia wonder if he would, or if she was going to have to figure it out by herself.

Then again, she could always ask her grandmother. Marie would probably tell her everything, and not hold back on any of it...

But that would be for after she’d eaten the delicious meal that her Dad had prepared for her. Until she’d done that (probably including the dessert he’d mentioned), she’d just have to keep on wondering what could possibly be going on.


	14. Chapter 14

**_ Chapter 13 _ **

Marie Saint-Claire had never thought her life would come to this.

Born in a small, provincial town in Southern France to a laundress mother and a baker father, Marie had always known her future was becoming a domestic labourer. Not that she’d minded — her family had been servants for generations, and she hadn’t had any interest in breaking the family tradition.

She’d learnt the tricks of the trade from her parents and older siblings, showing a special liking and talent for baking and sewing. Her parents had enlisted her help as soon as she was old enough, and so she’d begun working at the bakery, using the weekends to help her old mother with the washing and delivering of clean clothes back to their owners.

She remembered saving every penny her parents would give her, and eventually she’d saved enough to open her small sewing business, which her older sister Madeline had helped her run.

Well... maybe saying she’d _opened her own business_ was a bit of an overstatement since she’d basically had no workshop of her own (she’d preferred to spend most of her funds on supplies rather than on renting a space to open her own tailor shop) and had had to set up her “atelier” in her own bedroom, but it had certainly given her a sense of accomplishment and some extra money for her to do as she pleased.

That had been the start of her life, and that’s how she’d once believed it would always be like.

Of course, that had changed the moment fate had fit to put a very special man in her life – Joseph Brightmore. 

She still remembered that cold November evening as if it were yesterday. Her father had been sick – incredibly sick, considering her father rarely got anything stronger than the occasional cold. As such, Marie had been in charge of running the bakery for him since she was, after her father, the best baker in the family.

She’d been taking the eclairs out of the oven when the dinging of the door being opened behind her had distracted her from her task. She’d looked over at the entrance to the store and she’d felt her mouth (and, Joseph would later joke, her panties) dropping to the floor. There, in her very own store, had stood _the_ most attractive young man she’d ever seen.

Ruggedly handsome, with a pair of bright blue eyes, a stocky build, jet black hair and an easy smile – he’d had everything she’d ever looked for in a man.

Except the nationality.

English, she had been able to tell the moment he’d spoken – a young British lad had just entered French territory.

Of course, being the thunderstruck fool of a teenager that she’d been at the time, she’d tripped over her own feet and immediately dropped the entire tray of eclairs on the floor.

And the first thing that had come out of Joseph’s smirking mouth had stayed with her ever since. She even remembered him nodding to the ruined mess of pastries as he said it!

 _“Hm. I’ve had the occasional admirer throw herself at my feet, but pastries is a new one on me...”_ his eyes had danced with mischief, too _. “Does such special treatment come with a discount?”_

That had immediately gotten under Marie’s skin, and for the rest of the time that Joseph had spent there that day (at least a few hours) he’d wandered around after her. He’d wanted to know everything about her that he could, and then some – it got to the point where Marie had told him almost point-blank that he wasn’t getting anywhere with her, and yet he’d kept on going!

In return, she’d managed to find out that he was only staying in France a few more days (to which she had very loudly and sarcastically replied that she didn’t know what she’d do). But apparently, he was more than the slightly persistent idiot she’d imagined him to be at first, because he’d also said that he’d come back to France every weekend to see her, if that was what it took for her to go out with him.

And he’d been true to his word.

Like clockwork, Saturday morning would come and he’d be there, with his infuriatingly devious smirk and (admittedly gorgeous) bright eyes. He’d be their first customer, and he’d ask for an éclair, which he’d always eat with relish before leaving the store. Not that he’d go home – no, for a year he’d spent his every Saturday playing the guitar at the bakery’s door, using the occasional change tossed into his open guitar case to buy her flowers and chocolate.

Marie remembered refusing his little gifts at first, not wanting to give him the faintest of hopes that he had any chance with her. But, as time had gone on and he’d kept coming up with the most baffling schemes to woo her, her opinion (and feelings) of the young man had begun to change.

It had taken him a year of tireless and constant efforts, but he’d actually managed to wear her down – she’d given in. Her father’s cajoling should be mentioned, too; he’d told her that _“it wouldn’t hurt you to give the English pig a chance”_.

And it really hadn’t hurt at all (as much as a stubbornly proud part of her would hate to admit).

When he’d returned to the shop the weekend after the talk with her father, she’d eventually (after keeping him hanging for as long as she felt it wasn’t becoming unfair) agreed to go on a date with him.

That had seemed to make him the happiest man in Europe. In return, he’d picked her up for their dinner and their walking, not only in the smartest suit he probably owned, but with yet another bouquet of even more beautiful flowers. This bunch was even larger than the rest had been, and Marie had teased that he’d been holding out on her. He’d joked in a similar fashion that he’d garner an awful reputation if he gave away everything without so much as a date.

He had been warm and kind. He had been funny and truly sharp-witted. He had been charming in a way that told you he had an actual personality, and not that he simply had a way with words to get what he wanted.

It had won Marie over enough to agree almost straight away (after more light teasing about whether or not she should) to a second date.

And that begrudging, proud part of her had to end up rolling its eyes, as they’d been married within months of that fateful night.

It had been a rollercoaster, in Marie’s mind. She still swooned now, whenever she thought about parts of it – it wasn’t every day that girls from her town were swept off their feet by men from foreign lands (and many of their fathers had sought to keep it that way, in her day).

It had been an adventure. Granted, it was one that had had many similarities to the notion of staying in France (her new husband had also been a servant, to a wealthy family in London), but Marie had considered it an adventure nonetheless.

It had meant moving away, to take up residence with him and to find work within the house.

It had meant growing to love a new place, having to learn the language even more than she’d already known, and becoming familiar with the little characteristics of the people that had called that country home from birth.

And, after a little bit of time (a month maybe, at the most), it had also meant carrying and giving birth to their beautiful baby boy.

Their Niles.

They hadn’t had any more children after him. Having too many youngsters to look after while being loaded with work hadn’t seemed like the best of ideas at the time. Not to mention that, since Joseph’s parents were dead and hers were in France, there would have been no one to look after the children, and their finances wouldn’t allow Marie to quit her job, at least for a few years.

Luckily for them, their employers, Mr and Mrs Sheffield, had a son of their own just a few months after Niles had been born, and they’d always encouraged Niles and their son Maxwell to play together.

As a result, the two lads had grown up as thick as thieves. They’d do everything together, and both sets of parents had been quick to notice how they’d developed a strong bond of brotherhood. Niles had always acted as the big brother, looking after Maxwell, whereas Maxwell had settled nicely into his role as the younger sibling, both annoying and making Niles proud.

It was due to this friendship (and the goodness in Mr Sheffield Sr’s heart) that Niles’ education had been financed by the Sheffields, in an attempt for him to have a better and more successful future. Niles had been given the invaluable chance to attend the best schools in the world, and he’d stepped up to the challenge — her Niles had been an A student.

Still, Joseph had insisted on training their boy as a butler during his teen years. He’d take summer courses while Maxwell went on holiday with his family, and at the age of eighteen Niles had graduated from school and from Butler Academy. She still remembered the pride on her husband’s face — the last time she’d seen that look, had been when their son had been born!

But, despite his expensive education and the future he’d once envisioned, when duty had called, Niles hadn’t even hesitated — he’d followed Maxwell to America, out of loyalty for his friend.

It had saddened Marie and Joseph to see their son giving up his dreams of being a barrister, but it had also made them proud.  They‘d known he’d have to live paycheque to paycheque — which was in stark contrast to the lavish lifestyle of a successful lawyer — but by giving up his dreams to support Maxwell’s, he’d done something incredibly selfless.

And that was something that had spoken volumes about the kind of person their son was.

The first few months after his departure had been hard on the older Brightmores — “was this how my own parents felt when I left?” Marie remembered thinking...

But life had gone on, and they’d adjusted. Niles and Maxwell had soon settled in America, she and Joseph had continued to work for the Sheffields, and the letters from their son had started coming in. Letters that had told them about his life in America — his life in NYC, no less — and about a certain new secretary.

Miss C.C. Babcock.

He’d seemed just as infuriated and secretly enamoured with her as Marie had been with Joseph, all those years ago. He’d even used some of the same words his mother once had, to describe his father - “annoyance”, “irritation”, “unbelievable” - the list went on!

He’d even handled talking to her in the same way that Joseph had to Marie. He’d always written to them, proudly telling them about what he’d been up to at work that had allowed him to say something to Miss Babcock, or to retort to an insult that she’d already hurled at him...

Those two had not seemed an ordinary pair, in their interactions. For Marie and Joseph, that had meant dating after a year and a baby on the way after a month of marriage.

But for their boy, it seemed to get him nowhere. The reactions and the behaviours just weren’t the same, even if the feelings very obviously were!

 _“It’s the lad’s natural stubbornness!”_ Joseph would always say, _“We’ll be well into our twilight years before he grows a pair and asks her out!”_

But Joseph had been wrong. In more than one regard.

He hadn’t lived to see the day Niles asked Miss Babcock out.

Since his teenage years, Joseph Brightmore had been a heavy smoker. He’d wake up and, apart from kissing her good morning, the first thing he’d do was light a cigarette. He’d averaged around two to three packets a day, even reaching the point of falling asleep with a cigarette in between his fingers. He’d burnt himself and the bedlinen too many a time, and it had gotten so bad that Marie had banned the man from smoking in their room.

Not that that had been enough. Had she known what she now knew, she would have forbidden him from smoking altogether.

But she hadn’t. Maybe that’s why, shortly after their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, they’d heard the awful diagnosis — terminal lung cancer. Maybe two to three months to live, at the most.

The news had devastated Marie. She hadn’t known what she was going to do, when the time they’d been told they had left was suddenly up and she was a widow. She had known that it would come far sooner than either of them had expected, and yet...

And yet, she still hadn’t been ready. She hadn’t wanted to let her husband go. She’d thought that some might’ve seen her as selfish, considering his pain, but she hadn’t cared.

She hadn’t wanted her Joseph to be taken away from her. Not so soon, when they were supposed to have lived a long and happy life together and had made it well into old age.

It had been unfair. It was still, in her mind.

But, whether it was fair and just or not, she’d spent those last months of her husband’s life looking after his every need. He had wanted for nothing that she was able to provide, and she’d made him the happiest a man in his position could possibly be.

He’d told her that she’d made him the happiest man in the world, and how that would always be true. Marie told him in return that she was glad she’d dropped the tray of eclairs that day all those years ago, because it had given him an excuse to say something.

Joseph had laughed then — laughed his clear, rich laugh.

The laugh she’d fallen in love with.

He’d then told her that he would have found any excuse to talk to her, even if she hadn’t dropped the eclairs. That he’d been lost the moment his eyes had landed on her.

He hadn’t said much afterwards. Apart from the occasional murmured “I love you” or “My Marie”, he didn’t have much else to say.

Joseph Brightmore died on a cold December evening, making her a widow at only fifty-three years of age.

The months that followed Joseph’s  death had been the most painful she’d ever experienced, but as time had gone on (and after her son had come to live with her for a few short months before having to go back to America to support Maxwell, whose first wife had just died in a horrible car crash) she’d been able to get back on her feet. She wouldn’t say that she’d healed — some wounds are not meant to get better — but she’d gone on, even if part of her hadn’t wanted to.

Her husband’s death, however, had made her bitter, and for many years she’d found there was nothing (apart from her son) she enjoyed from. That was, of course, until Niles had told her she was going to be a grandmother.

There had been happiness at first, but when she’d found out how things had been between Niles and C.C., her happiness had been sullied.

She’d tried her best to reason with both, but ultimately they’d gone forth with the awful, awful agreement, and each had gone on their way with a twin in their care.

It had nearly devastated her as much as learning about Joseph’s cancer, knowing that they hadn’t just sat down and talked. She knew that they could’ve been more than what they were - there was love there, she was certain of it!

It had killed her to see her son so unhappy in the months after the agreement had been carried out, too. She’d hoped so much that her son would get the happily ever after that his parents hadn’t been able to manage...

Now, whether she liked it or not, and no matter what she felt there could be lurking between Niles and C.C., she knew it wasn’t going to happen. There was nothing to be done (she knew that, because she had tried her hardest to make something happen and that had come to nothing).

It would all and forever more remain an old woman’s fantasy.

She’d had to learn to make do with the things her boy’s newfound wealth from child support could bring them. Niles had insisted on fretting over every little detail that involved her, and had spent all the money he could on correcting whatever the issue of the time was. If she’d so much as mentioned that something wasn’t quite right, he’d used the money to do something about it!

That had been an experience in itself - Marie had never been so rich or comfortable in her life, and it still sent her head reeling sometimes that it had all come from her son.

Well, from his investments and his restaurant. But his actions had led to them all never wanting for anything. 

Apart from love, she sometimes thought to herself. But the two hundred million pounds he’d ended up with couldn’t solve that one in all the time it took to spend it. She was reminded of that fact, every time she looked at that idiotic little chancer that Niles had somehow found himself lumbered with!

She knew how it had happened, obviously. Kathleen had smelled money on Niles like sharks smelled blood in the water the moment they’d met, and since then she’d done whatever it took to get her claws into him and stay there.

And as for Niles, well...he wasn’t going to see it. Marie had tried her hardest to get him to see - they’d spent fruitless hours barking at each other, particularly when he’d announced to her that he intended to marry the woman.

Marie had been horrified by his choice and had told him in no uncertain terms how wrong it was. Niles had argued back that it was _more_ wrong that Lottie didn’t have a mother.

That had angered Marie more than anything, and she’d ended up screaming that Lottie already _had_ a mother.

What she _hadn’t_ said aloud right then (which, in hindsight, she perhaps should have) was that if he wasn’t so stupid in his own pride, he could go and patch things up with C.C.. Then, they could try being a real family.

Not that he probably would’ve seen it for the good and very possible advice that it was. Not with Kathleen flaunting herself in his face constantly, like she did. His mind had switched off and let other parts of his anatomy take over on that one!

It made Marie angry, even if she couldn’t say so outright anymore. She knew the woman – as much as Kathleen could be called a woman, and not a snake – was just using Niles for his money but there wasn’t a single thing she could do to stop her.

Until Niles realised for himself just how awful she was, she had to put up with it. In the meantime, she won little victories where she could by saying whatever she wanted in French.

Preferably when Niles wasn’t around. He understood French, so it wasn’t like she could go around calling her gold-digger without getting a hard look from her son.  

Not that that meant she deserved the title any less. Niles could insist a hundred times over that she wasn’t, and probably tell her off twice as many times for saying so, but it would never stick in Marie’s mind to try calling her anything other than what she was.

She just had to be a bit more subtle and clever about it, that was all. Kathleen didn’t particularly understand her either, so that gave her an advantage.

Not that it didn’t often feel like a hollow victory. She might have kept on winning the fights, but the longer that woman stayed in the house, the more Marie knew that she was going to lose the war.

She finished putting away another few things from the case and sighed. The best she could do now was make sure that that... _thing_ didn’t become an influence on Lottie. She wasn’t going to let her girl be permanently swayed and probably ruined by learning from an older, walking mistake!

Niles’ taste in mother figures was almost insulting, really. And he would never be able to replace Lottie’s _real_ mother, no matter how hard he tried!

He couldn’t seem to get that fact into his head, though. Or, he didn’t want to.

Marie didn’t know which idea frustrated her the most.

Either way, it pained her to see just how blind he was to Kathleen’s true nature. She knew for a fact that, had her Joseph still been alive, he would have never allowed this relationship to get this far – he would have found a way to get it across to Niles that marrying Kathleen was a huge mistake. He’d always been able to get to their boy when he wouldn’t listen…

But Joseph was gone, Niles had put it in his head that he was going to wed the little monster, and she and Lottie would have to pick up the pieces. Well, Lottie would have to do so once Niles deigned to tell her what was going to happen in just a few short weeks! The girl was still blissfully unaware…

She’d also had many a fight with Niles about that – in Marie’s opinion, having kept her in the dark for over a year had been the wrong thing to do. She deserved to know if her family was going to change, and the Frenchwoman was sure that, with the wedding mere weeks away, it would be a shock to Lottie’s system when she was eventually told that she was to have a new stepmother.

But again, her son’s hard-headedness had prevailed. She knew he’d be telling her in the next few hours, but she was afraid of the fallout.

How would Lottie react? Would she cry? Would she be happy? What would they do if she completely despised the idea of Kathleen joining their family? Marie knew what she’d do – she would kick Kathleen out and tell her to never ever show her face around their home again, but her son being how he was…

Well, suffice to say she wasn’t sure he’d call off the wedding.

Kathleen had sunk her claws into him too deeply for that.

But Marie was also certain that the claws could still be pried out. It would take some doing, but she was sure that, under the right circumstances, Kathleen would loosen her grip on Niles until she let go.

Marie had yet to find out what that was, but she lived in hope that she would. Or that Kathleen would do something so awful and irredeemable that Niles would be forced to wake up to the real world and walk away from her himself.

Again, Marie lived in hope. But she knew that if Kathleen lived up to a type, then even if she might’ve not had much of a thought in her head beyond what she could gain, she’d still be a master manipulator in terms of charm. It would take someone not bowled over by said charm to see past it, and to do something about it.

Someone other than her, that was. Marie had tried her best, but she knew that Niles simply wouldn’t listen. He was in too deep with her, and so concerned about Lottie having a mother...

Anything for his little girl, apparently, apart from the mother that she truly needed.

Because, of course, that would be _far_ too sensible.

Sighing, Marie slammed Lottie’s now empty case shut and moved to empty Lottie’s duffle bag – Marie and Niles had insisted she take both a case and a duffel bag, just in case. She unzipped it with care, not wanting the zipper to get caught in her grandchild’s clothes’ fabric. The little bag was bursting with dirty clothes, but she was happy to see that Lottie had heeded her advice and stored the dirty clothes inside plastic bags, to avoid them from impregnating the other items in the bag (and the bag itself) with bad smells.

She shuffled into her walk-in-closet and dragged Lottie’s hamper into the room, setting it just by Lottie’s bed, so she could easily toss the dirty laundry into it. She was still a vivacious woman and kept herself in great shape, but she had to accept she was no longer as young as she used to. Her back was prone to becoming stiff or giving out if she carried around too much weigh – she had to accept her limitations, didn’t she?

So, with a groan, she plopped herself down on the side of Lottie’s bed and began sorting her dirty clothes by colour. She’d have a lot of washing up to do in the next few days, but she didn’t really mind. She enjoyed pampering her grandchild like that – she was one of the few pure things that remained in her life…

She was happy that her girl was growing, but at the same time there was some nostalgia to it. Time was flying past her, and soon enough, her little butterfly would be all grown up and spreading her wings.

It was a pity, Marie thought, that C.C. couldn’t be there to see it happening. Or that they couldn’t see Mia as she was growing, too...

She wondered how alike the girls had grown up. Of course, it was likely that Mia was more like C.C., just as Lottie was like Niles. But it would be wonderful to know for sure – to get them in the same room together, and let them spend time just being together.

Just as sisters should be.

She thought dourly about it (and almost gagged at the idea of the only siblings Lottie getting to spend time with being born from Kathleen) as she made her way diligently through the bag.

Shirts...socks...underwear...

Until her hand brushed something that didn’t feel like clothing at all. In fact, it wasn’t even in its own plastic bag!

But she couldn’t tell what it was just by holding it. It felt...soft, that was for certain, and very fluffy...

It had to come out, and did so easily when she pulled on it.

It was...a little toy sheep?

And her confused blink was punctuated on the stairs as Lottie arrived in the doorway.

But what Mia’s grandmother didn’t see was the panic that then spread across the inside of her body.

 _Cuppy_. She’d forgotten to take him out of the bag and hide him somewhere else, like she was supposed to! She had to think fast – she knew her grandmother would ask where she’d got it from, and it wasn’t like she could suddenly show any interest in a clearly well-loved and starchy stuffed animal. Not without raising suspicions.

“Lottie, what is zhis?” asked Marie, holding out the little thing, “Where did you get it from?”

Well, this was it – she’d either make it or break it!

“Oh no!” she cried, putting on her best worried look and rushing over to her grandmother to retrieve Cuppy, “It’s Cuppy!”

Marie’s eyebrows knitted into a confused frown. “ _Cuppy_ …?”

Mia nodded, “Yes, Cuppy – it belongs to a friend from camp! She loves this old thing, and it must have gotten mixed up with my luggage when I was packing!”

It was the most convincing lie she could think of - it had to work as an explanation. People had to get their stuff mixed up at camps all the time, didn’t they? Everybody was living so close together...

Marie’s eyes looked from her granddaughter to the little sheep. It was certainly quite old - she could imagine a girl being gifted this at birth, or for a christening...

She was probably missing it very much - having it with her, burying her face in it, cuddling it at night in bed...

If she had brought it with her on a long camping trip, she probably didn’t like going without it. And there was only one thing they could do about it - that was to do all they could to get it back to her.

Lottie had said that she was friends with this girl. They had probably swapped addresses, or at least telephone numbers. They could get in contact as soon as they were able and return this little Cuppy!

“Well, we’ll ‘ave to find some way of getting eet back to ‘er!” she declared aloud. “You say you are friends with zhis girl, no? Do you know ‘er address or telephone number? What eez ‘er name?”

Granted, she might have come across as being a little bit eager about it. But she couldn’t particularly help herself about it, either - her granddaughter had made a friend and she wanted to know about her.

She also wanted to make sure the girl got her little animal back. She had to have been missing it, the poor sweetheart!

Not that Mia had any intention of mailing it back to America! She simply couldn’t survive without Cuppy, and she seriously doubted that a package arriving from the United Kingdom wouldn’t look suspicious to her mother. No, Cuppy was staying, and she had to somehow get her grandmother off her back and distract her (obviously well-meaning) thoughts from the allegedly misplaced stuffed animal.

“Oh, don’t worry, Mémé!” she said airily, “I’ll call her and see what she wants to do about it, alright?”

Mia was really hoping that was enough for her grandmother to consider the matter closed and they could move on to more pressing matters – namely, what the hell was going on with her Dad and this Kathleen lady! She’d been all over him during lunch, and the worst part was that her attention had been…well…welcome! Her Dad had been all smiles, fussing over this lady and going on about how nice it was that they were all together.

Mia didn’t share the sentiment – there was something off about Kathleen, and Mia couldn’t put her finger on it. That’s why, after excusing herself from the table, she’d gone in search of her grandmother, someone Mia believed could shed some light on an otherwise confusing situation.

“Are you sure, Lottie?” said her grandmother, squinting her eyes at Mia, “I zhink it would be easier if we just mailed it back!”

It most certainly would _not_ be easier, and Mia was running out of casual dismissals. She was verging on the territory of having to explain why, approaching the moment very fast, and she was just as rapidly coming up with nothing.

Of course she was. She knew that her grandmother’s way of doing it was the way that made most sense!

She’d never meant for this to happen. She’d only wanted to come up and ask about her Daddy and Kathleen, but now she doubted that even that would distract her grandmother from the path that she was on!

The panic was so great, she clutched at the straw that was the first idea she eventually came up with on the matter and ran with it.

“I, um...I don’t have her full address!” her memory flashed her an image of her home, back in New York. “I don’t have the...post code...”

She congratulated herself for remembering to say “post” instead of “zip” at the last minute, and waited for her grandmother to say something.

A zip code for another country wasn’t always an easy thing to get. Surely her grandmother might accept it, or at least be persuaded to drop the subject for a while, on that basis?

It had to get her off the hook, until she could think of something better...

Not that her grandmother appeared to be giving up that easy.

“Well, couldn’t you try to look eet up? At zhe library or in zhe post office, per’aps?” Marie asked. Then, she appeared to have what was probably, in her mind, an even better and more simple solution. “Or, eef you insist on calling your friend, per’aps you could ask for eet zhen? She would know for sure what ‘er ‘ole address was!”

Mia hadn’t thought of that possibility, and she cringed internally. She just hoped that none of it was showing up on her face...

Though that could present an opportunity. If she called Lottie, pretended to talk to her about Cuppy, and then made up some excuse that got her grandmother off her back, that way everyone would win, right?

It had to be better than the discomfort she was feeling in nearly being caught out...

“Um...yeah! Yeah, I can call her and ask that instead,” she said, pretending to make no big deal of it. “It’ll all be alright after that...”

She hoped it would be, anyway.

But, just in case (and to divert her grandmother’s attention from the subject) Mia rushed to her bed and started helping Marie unpack. She had not packed her bags – Lottie had done so, and Mia had done Lottie’s – so much of the stuff she and her grandmother were removing from it were unfamiliar. She wasn’t a big fan of her sister’s style, but if she wanted to pull this off she’d have to make do with the clothing  choices in her sister’s wardrobe.

Still, if her Daddy or her Mémé took her shopping, she was definitely going to update Lottie’s closet.

“You don’t ‘ave to ‘elp me, sweet’eart,” said Marie, smiling warmly at her grandchild, “You should be resting after your trip!”

“I am not that tired, Mémé” replied Mia, removing a few of Lottie’s unused clothes – it seemed she’d packed clothes for five months! “I think I might be jet-lagged.”

Marie chuckled, “Well, zhat eez true! You were a few hours be’ind us, weren’t you?”

“Yup – at this time last week I’d have just woken up!”

Her grandmother’s soft chuckle suggested that she might’ve gotten away with her little bait-and-switch tactic, and Mia felt her insides relaxing.

It was working! Well, she shouldn’t be too surprised that it was - if she could pull off pretending to be her own twin sister without anybody suspecting anything, then she could tell a tiny little lie about mentioning a toy and asking for a full address on the phone!

But just as she was congratulating herself on her spy-like subterfuge, Marie spoke up again.

“Well zhen, give eet a couple of hours, zhen call your friend. We do not want to disturb zhem so early! I might even sit een on eet - eet can be a treat for an old woman, getting to ‘ear zhe voice of ‘er granddaughter’s new friend, coming all zhe way from America! Eet will be a little like when I used to call your fazher while ‘e was living zhere!”

Mia felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.

Her grandmother wanted to sit in on the call? As in, sit there and listen while she talked to the real Lottie, with nothing in the conversation to do with Cuppy?!

She couldn’t do it! There was no way she could let her! She had to come up with something - anything! An excuse, or a reason to keep it private that nobody could ask about!

Her grandmother couldn’t find out. It was too early to let the cat out of the bag!

“Oh…er…okay, Mémé,” Mia said, trying to keep a smile on her face, “But we’ll have to wait a little because…well, my friend is on holiday with her family!”

The girl congratulated herself for her quick thinking – if this did not get her grandmother to leave the subject be, then she didn’t know what would.

“Oh…” Marie said, frowning a little, “Well, I suppose zhat we’ll ‘ave to wait zhen. Now, what are you doing up ‘ere instead of being downstairs wizh your Papa?”

Mia shrugged – she didn’t want to admit it, but she simply couldn’t stand being around Kathleen. She wouldn’t let her and her Dad alone! She’d fawn all over him and constantly interrupt when they were talking, so she’d decided to go upstairs and spend some time with her Mémé. Maybe when Kathleen left she could ask her Dad about going out for dinner or doing something nice, like baking or watching a movie. She remembered Lottie had told her about how she and their Dad would spend quiet evenings together.

But perhaps more importantly, she still wanted to know exactly who this woman was and what she was doing there. Her Dad hadn’t been exactly straightforward about her, and Mia was beginning to lose her patience.

She’d been able to tell Marie did not like Kathleen, so perhaps she’d be able to explain what was going on to her.

She was her grandmother - a whole new family member that she wanted to get to know, and to be able to tell things.

Besides, she had to tell somebody, before it made her explode!

“Kathleen’s down there, too,” she eventually said in a quiet voice.

That was enough for Marie to apparently understand, as she pulled a disgusted face and made an equally disgusted noise, “Ugh. I see why you chose to leave, zhen. You ‘ave ‘ad a long journey and zhe last zhing you need eez...well, _zhat_.”

Mia wanted to chuckle at her grandmother’s clear distaste, but she was working herself up too much into worrying over how she was going to sound when she said her next question.

“What is Kathleen? To my daddy, I mean...” she felt the need to quickly continue when her grandmother caught her eye properly. “She’s been here ages, spending all her time with him, and he keeps saying how nice it is for everybody to get together, but I don’t know why...”

She held her breath as she waited for a response. What if Lottie had known who Kathleen was, but had just assumed that Mia would understand?

No, she wouldn’t have done that - it was too big a detail to not mention, wasn’t it? An entire person?

Marie stopped unpacking then to look up at the young girl. How was Marie supposed to explain this to her? She knew Niles wanted to break the news to Lottie himself, but she hadn’t counted with the girl making the hard questions to her! Not to mention that any answer she _wanted_ to give to her was not the answer her son would want her to give.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place, as it was.

She had to tell her a somewhat… _edited_ version of the truth about Kathleen. Not the full truth (not that her son would know what _that_ was, where the poisonous little viper was concerned), but a part of it, nonetheless.

Slowly, Marie edged around Lottie’s bed and went to sit on the windowsill seat; she knew Lottie loved to sit there and read, draw or just watch the world go by. There was no better spot to disclose of delicate information than this one.

“Come ‘ere, sweet’eart,” said the older woman, patting the empty space next to her.

Mia did as she was told, choosing to sit as close to Marie as possible. Her grandmother readily welcomed her show of affection, and soon the two were snuggled together. Mia had never snuggled like this with Grandma B.B. – she was not the affectionate type of grandma, so this was a nice change of pace.

“So,” Mia said in her best British accent, “Who is she?”

“She’s your fazher’s publicist,” Marie said with a sigh, “She and your fazher met over a year ago, back when ‘e wanted to advertise ‘is restaurant. She’s been doing zhe restaurant’s publicity ever since, but eef you ask me, she’s done a better job selling ‘erself zhan your fazher’s place…”

Mia frowned, not quite understanding what her grandmother was getting at. So this woman was just an employee? That didn’t seem believable! She remembered going to her mom’s job plenty of times, and no employee had fawned over her like Kathleen fawned over her Dad! She was practically all over him all of the time!

“What…what do you mean, Mémé?” asked Mia, looking up at Marie with curious (if slightly uncomfortable) eyes.

Again (and for what felt like the thousandth time that morning) Marie huffed out a sigh – so much for trying to help Lottie understand what was going on!

“Listen, ma poulette,” said Marie matter-of-factly, “We bozh know your fazher eez not some suave debonair bachelor-of-zhe-monzh-type. I used to wonder why a young, beautiful zhing such as Kazhleen would want to date a middle-aged man ‘oo walks around zhe ‘ouse in ‘is fluffy slippers while eating beans on toast. Zhen I realised zhere are a few million reasons why zhat girl’s giggling and zhey are all sitting in Halifax bank and HSBC bank.”

That was when what her grandmother was saying all began to click in Mia’s mind.

“Oh,” she blinked, not so much in surprise because it...really didn’t feel like much of one. It was more out of the sudden understanding. “You mean you don’t think she even really likes Daddy...”

Her eyes were drawn to the window then, or rather, to what was beyond the pane of glass. Outside was the garden, and it wasn’t empty.

Her father and Kathleen appeared to be taking a stroll around it, occasionally stopping for Niles to apparently point out some plant or flower. And for all of that time, Kathleen clutched at his arm, looking at him as though she were hanging onto his every word, and laughing so uproariously at something he said that Mia could hear it through the window’s glass.

“Well, what do I know?” Marie replied to her question. “But I will tell you one zhing; zhis one could give Sharon Stone some femme fatale lessons. She ‘as your fazher eating from zhe palm of ‘er ‘and. Zhey walk toghezher, zhey swim togezher, they are out to dinner every night. Not to mention she treats me as zhough I am some sort of fool ‘oo can be won over wizh a smile and a few words een my mozher tongue – which she speaks terribly, mind you.”

Mia frowned between her and the scene taking place outside. It nearly made her start when Marie continued what she was saying, giving her a nudge.

“But do not let me influence you,” she said, indicating with her head towards the door. “Go down and see some more of zhe evidence for yourself.”

Mia did not need to be told twice. After giving her grandmother a kiss on the cheek and thanking her for the information she’d given her, she quickly got one of her swimsuits from her closet (along with some flip-flops and a towel) and then made a brief stop in her bathroom to get changed into her swimming gear.

She was going to get some answers for herself.

And, perhaps, make the first move in the game.

* * *

 

Niles didn’t think he could be any happier currently. He had his baby girl back home, she had finally met the woman he hoped would fill in the empty slot that Lottie’s mother had left and now he only had to tell his girl about his upcoming nuptials.

He would most likely tell about it in the following days. Kathleen would rather he’d told Lottie about them the moment she’d walked in after arriving from camp, but he wanted to break it to her gently. Maybe do it over some popcorn and while watching a movie. He knew his girl, and he needed to talk to her in private.

Besides, he could already see her coming out into the garden wearing her swimsuit and carrying a towel – he was not going to spoil her fun when she clearly wanted to take a dip after a long trip home!

He beamed brightly at her, “Ah, there she is! Ready to set foot in your pool again, after so many long summer weeks away from it?”

He knew just how much she loved being by it in the summer. He often wondered if Mia was the same – dipping and diving at every opportunity, taking to water from an early age, just like her sister...

But he didn’t like to think about it too much. It made him think about too many other things he was missing out on from his other little one’s life. Things he’d never get to see, or even to hear about...

He had to remind himself that he was supposed to be trying to move on, and he forced the smile back up from where it had been drooping, as “Lottie” came over with a grin.

“Yep!” she replied happily. “The lake at the camp was good, but it was nothing like having a pool at home!”

“I’ll bet!” Kathleen jumped in, her voice and mannerisms sounding excited, but also somehow like it was all made of brightly-coloured plastic – fake, and flashy. All for show. “There’s nothing like having your own private pool in your own garden, away from everybody else, that you don’t have to share with anyone!”

Mia supposed not, but she didn’t reply to the woman as she set down her towel and took off her flip-flops.

That just made Kathleen more determined to try, it seemed.

“You know, you’re a lot more grown up than I’d imagined, Lottie,” she said thoughtfully. “The way your father talked, I’d imagined to meet somebody at least a few years younger...!”

Mia gave the redhead a faint smile, “I’ll be nine soon,” said the girl before looking between her father and Kathleen. “How old are you, exactly?”

Both Niles and Kathleen seemed thrown by the question. Niles could not believe his girl would make such a question – he’d taught her to be polite, and asking other people’s age (namely, other _women’s_ age) was not polite at all!

“Charlotte!” Niles chastised, frowning lightly. “You can’t ask–”

“It’s alright, _darling_ ,” Kathleen intervened, waving a dismissive hand and flashing a smile that was just a little bit too bright to be sincere, “She meant no harm!”

She then looked over at Mia and said, “I just turned thirty, love.”

“Wow,” said the little girl, “You are like, what, twenty years younger than my Dad?”

Kathleen’s eyes widened and Niles made a choking noise, which developed into a coughing fit. The redhead half-patted him on the back, reaching around and doing so until he’d stopped.

He cleared his throat one last time, before laughing somewhat nervously and loudly declaring, “Well, I suppose it’s about time she started getting interested in maths at school!”

His eyes darted quickly between Kathleen and Mia, before he continued.

“I’m going to get some more beans on toast, and a bottle of champagne to celebrate!”

Mia felt a strange stirring, like a gut instinct, go through her body. And it was accompanied by two questions in her head.

_Champagne? Why?_

That immediate spark of suspicious curiosity was when she knew she had to cut in.

“What are we celebrating?” she asked.

Niles nearly looked like he was about to choke again. He got the same panic-stricken look on his face and his eyes started to bulge.

But, just as soon as it had begun, Kathleen stepped in again, laughing lightly and plastering an insincere grin all over her face.

“Your homecoming, of course!” she cried, nudging Niles with her elbow and giving him a pointed look so he’d start moving back up towards the house.

Niles hesitated – Lottie had said enough, in his eyes – but one pointed look from his fiancée and he was on the move, dragging his feet a little as he left the two women in his life behind. They both took a seat then – one on the lounger, and the other at the edge of the pool, so she could dunk her feet in the cool water.

A brief silent seemed to stretch between the two women as they seized each other up. They didn’t do it openly, but it had become evident to the both of them that the game was on. They had to tread with care before deciding how to act or what to do, but they both were determined to keep the tension to a minimum. Not so much for them but rather for Niles.

Conflict would not benefit either of them.

Kathleen didn’t feel threatened by the girl, but she was well aware that, at least for now, her future with Niles depended on how she and the little snot got along. The publicist was certain that it wouldn’t take her long to win her over – she was a pro at doing just that, after all. She literally had no idea that little Lottie (or rather, little Mia) had no intentions of getting along with her. The sooner she was out of the picture, the better. Otherwise her and her sister’s plan of getting their parents back together would come to naught.

“So, how was camp, Lottie? Was it fabulous?” Kathleen spoke up, simpering at Mia – she’d made the first move, as it was.

“It was great,” Mia replied, getting to her feet and preparing to do a cannonball into the pool, “But I missed Dad – he and I are closer than close.”

With that said, the girl walked to the edge of the pool (getting as close as she could get to Kathleen, too) and leapt into the swimming pool, splashing water all over Kathleen’s expensive attire.

It was muffled, but Mia thought she heard a short, shrill shriek, coming from above the surface of the water. Almost like someone had started to lose it, but had held it together just in time.

Most likely before someone else’s dad came back and could see or hear what was going on.

And to keep up the pretence of the good, innocent, unknowing daughter, Mia resurfaced. It was just her luck to do it as Kathleen walked (as though she were trying not to storm) over to the nearest towel, picked her up and patted herself dry.

Mia tried not to snigger as the woman fussed over her clothes and her hair, and she announced herself to the redhead with a hidden insincerity that was so much better acted than anything Kathleen had said so far.

“Sorry! Did I get you wet, Kath?”

Kathleen looked up at her with a smile on her face but badly disguised murderous intent in her eyes.

“Just a little bit, Lottie, sweetheart...!”

Her words sounded cheerful, but also a little clipped. _Good_ , Mia thought. She was getting under her skin already.

Not that it was going to be an easy war. Winning one battle didn’t mean a victory overall.

And Kathleen would probably try harder to win the next one.

She’d probably start right away, as well. Just to try and knock Mia down a peg or two. Her mom had always taught her about ways that people behaved, and that meant she could see things like this coming from a mile away.

“Hey, just to let you know, your dad took me to your country house the other day. He let me ride your horse - I hope that’s okay with you...”

Her voice was laced with an unseen smirk, like she thought she was getting one over on Mia by getting to ride Lottie’s horse. Probably because she thought it meant she “outranked” her or something, and it was obvious because their dad had let her on the horse, without telling his girl...

Luckily, Mia had an ace up her sleeve.

 _Hook_.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she said, casually drifting to the edge of the pool and leaning there, letting her legs float out behind her. “Sprout’s used to strange women riding her. Not that you’re strange or anything - you actually seem pretty normal, compared to some of the others...”

 _Line_.

She swore that in that moment, she saw all the colour drain from Kathleen’s face, along with any hint that Kathleen thought she might’ve just saved herself this round.

“Others?” she asked, walking over at speed, just like she couldn’t help herself. “What others?”

 _Sinker_.

Mia had to hold back the biggest smirk of her life as she replied to that one.

“ _What others_?” she said, in a tone that she knew from experience was just the right side of mocking. Then she began to laugh quietly. “Oh, please...!”

She only began to “calm” herself out of it when she noticed just how distressed Kathleen looked. It was the exact expression a person would wear if they were on the verge of having everything they’d worked for torn away from them in a matter of seconds.

Or, in Mia’s mind, she looked like what happened the instant before a toddler started crying because somebody knocked over their toy bricks.

That was when she decided to cut back in, and move it up a stage.

“What, you want the 411?”

Kathleen blinked back at her, “The what?”

Mia froze a little inside, noticing that Kathleen looked really confused. Was that phrase out of her generation, or did British people just not say it? Lottie had never mentioned what words and phrases to watch out for, or given her a list of ones she shouldn’t say...

It’d just slipped out, without her really thinking about it! She had to think quickly, before Kathleen told her dad and then somebody flagged it up!

She didn’t want any cracks appearing in her otherwise flawless disguise so far.

“The 411. It’s an American phrase – I must have picked it up at camp,” she explained. “It means information. On the other women.”

Kathleen forgot all about the unusual wording then and just got eager.

“Yes! Yes, absolutely!”

Mia felt more in control then, and she liked it a lot.

She chuckled a little under her breath, “Well, I don’t blame you...I’d want to know if I was number twenty-eight...no, wait, number twenty-nine in a man’s life.”

She’d pulled that number randomly out of the air, but apparently she was believable enough for it to nearly contort Kathleen’s face into one of horror.

She was clearly trying to keep most of it in, even if the words still slipped out.

_“I’m number twenty-nine?!”_

Mia had to force herself not to smirk at Kathleen’s evident distress.

“Well, yeah... I mean, I didn’t start counting until I was like four, so I don’t really know how many more of them there were before that,” said Mia, trying to sound matter-of-fact. Although the task was becoming difficult as it was – Kathleen’s face had taken a faint reddish hue. “It’s always the same routine: horseback riding through our country home’s gardens, expensive gifts, moonlight swims, going out to dinner practically every night...”

Mia shrugged.

“Meh, it’s none of my business, I suppose. It’s his fault if a man his age wants to make a fool out of himself.”

Mia stopped talking for a moment and then smirked at Kathleen.

“Who knows, _Kath_ , you might _just_ be the real thing...”

Just as Mia spoke (and in an incredible instance of perfect timing) Niles returned carrying his beans on toast and a bottle of champagne.

As he approached both women, he smiled at them and loudly declared—

“How about we go out for dinner tonight, eh?”

Kathleen gave him a smile that was somehow both bright and unfriendly at the same time. Like she was happily agreeing to the dinner, but there were going to be Words Exchanged at some point, most likely in private.

Niles didn’t appear to notice, and just continued grinning between them, “You ladies find something to talk about while I was gone?”

 _Oh, he has no idea_ , Mia thought to herself as she kicked away from the edge of the pool and started to practice her backstroke.

She needed to keep her head above water. She wanted to hear what was said next.

Seeing his daughter go back to her swimming, Niles turned and asked Kathleen instead, “Is that a “yes”?”

Mia almost held her breath, wanting to know if Kathleen would accept the challenge. She’d once heard her mother calling it “picking up the gauntlet”. She hadn’t known what it’d meant, until she’d gone through a couple of books and found that it came from when knights challenged each other to duels, one would throw down their gauntlet for the other to pick up and accept the challenge.

The gauntlet was down. She just had to wait.

And wait she did, as Kathleen put on her best sweet smile, and spoke without gritting her teeth at all.

“It certainly is...!”

And that was good enough for Mia. The gauntlet had been picked up. Although there wouldn’t be any kind of chivalry in this case; this would require every tactic and dirty trick she knew in the book. Every prank and joke would be set up, every trick and form of hoodwinking would be put into practice.

Without even knowing, her mother had taught her well.

This wasn’t going to be a duel. This was all-out war.


	15. Chapter 15

**_ Chapter 14 _ **

Stewart always thought it was good to go into the company he’d helped to build and grow (from the company his own father had owned) to see how everybody was doing. It elevated moods, which boosted morale, which in turn increased productivity.

Not to mention, it meant he got to see his Kitten in action. Boy, was she doing him proud! She practically ran the company on her own with no complaints and she managed to juggle it all with a life outside and looking after her daughter.

The daughter they were about to see, much to Stewart’s...worry. Personal worry. Ever since Mia had come back from that summer camp, she’d been acting strangely. She’d forgotten perfectly familiar faces, she’d muddled up places and street names she’d known for years, and Stewart could even swear that her accent sounded...off, every now and again,

Hopefully, he thought to himself as their car pulled up in front of the house C.C. and Mia shared, that would all change when they got inside. She was probably still used to being back, that was all.

Fran greeted them at the door, after they’d made it up the steps. She was munching on a cookie that looked like it could still be warm.

“Hey...you...guys!” she cried between bites. “How was...work today?”

“Just fine, Fran,” C.C. replied, eyeing the treat curiously. “What’s with the cookie?”

That was when Fran appeared to remember, and she jumped, “Oh! Mia made ‘em! We spent this aftahnoon doin’ a little bakin’!”

Well, there went all hopes of returning to normal! That little revelation didn’t sit well with Stewart, either; Mia didn’t know the first thing about cooking!

They went into the house, Fran right behind them, and Stewart immediately began to head for the kitchen. He wanted to see his granddaughter, who’d apparently become some kind of award-winning baker over the course of one day, for all the smells coming from the room!

He could hear C.C. behind him at that point - she was probably even more curious and oddly worried than he was!

And the sight that met their eyes was worrying, given what they knew about their little Mia.

The entire kitchen was filled with plates and trays. Specifically baking trays, all of which were filled with cakes and brownies and other sweet treats! They covered the counters, and the room was thick with the sweet smell of baked goods, melted marshmallows and chocolate.

There, at the sink washing up her mixing bowls and utensils, was Mia herself. She was so wrapped up in what she was doing that she hadn’t turned around, which was strange - Mia always looked up for footsteps!

She was like her mother in that regard, Stewart thought. After years of watching herself around the mansion because of her prank war with Niles no doubt, he’d noticed that C.C. could hear the slightest noise from anything. Bare feet, heavy steel-tipped - she could hear them all, no matter what.

Just like Mia was usually able to. But she was concentrating too hard on the task she had to finish, scrubbing the bowls in the sink until they gleamed.

It just went to show that she had her mother’s work ethic, too. She’d even tried to decorate the kitchen-slash-dining room table with a small vase of flowers in the middle!

This was...more than Mia. But what was Stewart going to do about it? What could he do about it?! In most aspects she still looked and acted like his granddaughter - was it right to take her aside and tell her he knew that something was up, when for the most part there shouldn’t have been?

There had to have been something up, according to C.C.’s mind as well. She was clearly just too astonished to say so!

And if Stewart had asked his daughter how she was feeling about all of this, he would’ve been right.

C.C. could only look around the place in disbelief, her feet letting her wander but not really travelling with a destination in mind. Every plate she saw as she went had a pile of different baked treats on it, and every single one was clearly homemade.

She didn’t understand it. Mia had never done any kind of cooking like this before! C.C. didn’t think she knew how - she certainly hadn’t taught her!

It was almost as if her father’s side was coming through, and that sent an odd (painful, she wouldn’t admit) feeling through C.C.’s chest. She’d raised Mia without him, and yet it looked like he was still having some kind of influence on her anyway!

C.C. didn’t know how she wanted to feel about that. She’d suddenly had to learn to cook properly by herself when she’d first taken her girl home from the hospital. She’d decided it was time to bite the bullet and start taking care of herself a little better, to let her take care of the greatest addition to her life, too.

She didn’t know what she’d do without her. That was why she had to start talking to her right then, and get it all straightened out about where her sudden talent (and her interest as well, seeing as she hadn’t had much of one before) had come from. Then they’d decide what to do with the small toothache-inducing banquet she’d prepared.

“Mia...” C.C. began. “What’s all of this?”

That was when the girl turned and smiled at her mother. Lottie thought pretending to be Mia was going very well - no one had suspected a thing!

“A little baking,” she answered, finishing shaking the last of the dishwater out of the mixing bowl before putting it in the drying rack. “It’s fun!”

C.C. let out a breath which was half a laugh, half a sigh, and completely denoted her inability to think up a response to what her daughter had just said.

“I...I can see that,” she eventually managed. “But...well, where did you learn to bake like this?”

She still couldn’t believe that this was all inherited talent - there had to be some encouragement of it to let it take off like this! There had been nothing like that for Mia - not from her, and certainly not from Niles!

Even if, as she picked up the nearest brownie square and bit into it, she was immediately transported back to the kitchen of the Sheffield mansion, where she was met by a lopsided grin and a pair of bright blue eyes...

She swallowed hard and nearly choked on the brownie, but managed to compose herself to hear Mia’s answer.

The answer that was setting Lottie’s heart racing a little. It was occurring to her that Mia might not have baked like she and their Daddy did...

“I, uh...” she tried affecting a smile and shrugged. “Took a class at camp! I...really liked it...”

“They let you girls bake at camp?” Stewart asked, screwing up his face as he clearly thought about how odd that was. “I thought it was supposed to be for outdoor adventures, like hiking and swimming in the lake?”

“Yeah,” C.C. agreed thoughtfully, looking between her father and her daughter. “I thought that as well. It was what it said in the brochure...”

Lottie felt her stomach go funny. It sounded like her mother and grandfather were getting suspicious, and she had no way of answering - they were right, the camp was for outdoor activities! They had barely ever done anything inside, unless it was in the evenings, or if it was raining!

It had hardly rained when she was out there, too. But...wait. There had been one day when the weather had been too bad to do anything outside!

That was it! She was saved!

But before she could even open her mouth to say it, it was almost like her mother must’ve read her mind.

“Well, I suppose they don’t put every detail on those things,” she said dismissively. “I mean, it didn’t mention anything you’d do during bad weather! I guess baking was one of the options on a day when you couldn’t be outside?”

Trying to disguise a massive sigh of relief, Lottie nodded.

“Yeah, it was really raining that day so we got to go to the kitchens to learn how to bake, if we wanted...”

Stewart listened to his granddaughter carefully, but couldn’t fully remove the dubious look from his face. Something about all of this just wasn’t sitting right - it was like Mia was...well, a different person!

But that didn’t make sense. How could she be?

Just as he was about to probe further, by asking what she baked at camp and who on the site taught them, the phone rang.

“I’ll get it,” Fran said, retrieving another of Lottie’s cookies from the small basket where she’d carefully stored them, “Ya wait here!”

With that, the former nanny rushed over to the kitchen’s phone and picked it up, all while beginning to munch on Lottie’s freshly-baked cookie. Both C.C. and Lottie watched her go with mirth in their eyes (the woman truly was a character!) but Stewart’s eyes stayed firmly on Lottie.

He couldn’t quite tell what it was about her, but he felt there was something off about her. He didn’t believe that a girl her age could learn how to bake after a few cooking classes at camp, especially when no person in their family had…well…the knack for it.

Her paternal family, however…

Stewart shook his head. He was being foolish, wasn’t he? There had to be a logical explanation to Mia’s newfound abilities. Maybe this was just one of those inborn talents that had decided to emerge. After all, with proper stimuli many children were able to discover new abilities that they didn’t know they had…

Yeah, that had to be it.

He decided then and there that that was all it could possibly be. No other explanation his mind came up with made any sense, the more he thought about it!

He suppressed a quiet chuckle to himself, thinking his own brain ridiculous for the things that it came up with, sometimes.

Of course it was Mia, and not some clever imposter. They’d be able to spot it a mile away if something really was up! They were her family, and they knew their little girl!

Well, most things about her. Clearly, this ability to cook had been something they’d never thought to explore. But now they knew, they could nurture her talent more appropriately!

He was just about to ask her if there was anything she liked to bake in particular (he could easily stack her shelves with books on baking), when Fran came hurrying back to the group.

And Stewart couldn’t help noticing that she looked extremely confused.

“It’s fer you, Mia,” she said, gesturing lightly back over her shoulder towards where she’d left the phone off the hook. “But it has ta be like an impressionist or something, ‘cause whoever it is, they sound just like you!”

With a muttered “thanks” to Fran, Lottie grabbed the detachable headset and rushed out of the kitchen and into the downstairs toilette — she didn’t want to risk being heard by her family while speaking to Mia!

“Okay, now I can talk,” she whispered into the phone, her voice having regained its usual West-London accent. “I was in the kitchen with Mum and Grandpa!”

“Okay, okay, I don’t care about that right now,” said Mia, who was back to speaking like the American she was. She was also whispering, which wasn’t surprising considering London was five hours ahead of New York and it was way past her usual bedtime.

Lottie could also detect panic in her sister’s voice, something that did not bode well considering they were currently on opposite ends of the planets playing play pretend...

“What’s wrong?” Lottie asked, “Did anyone find out abo—”

“No! No, no... that’s not it,” Mia cut her off, “It’s Dad! Lottie, he’s got a girlfriend!”

That actually immediately settled the worry bubbling away in Lottie’s stomach, to the point where she nearly burst out laughing. She managed to keep it in, purely for the sake of the grownups not overhearing.

They’d be done for, if she did.

But there was no chance of that, and there was no reason for Mia to be panicking like she was. Their dad dated a lot, trying to find someone to settle down with, but it never came to anything.

Certainly not to the point of calling any of them “girlfriend”!

It might’ve been something she should’ve mentioned before. But there wasn’t any need to make a fuss over it now - she’d simply explain the situation and then they could both get back to the plan.

“Oh, it won’t be anything real,” she said dismissively. “Dad goes out with women a lot, but none of them ever last. I think the longest run any of them had was just over a week. But he hasn’t done it in about a year, so it was probably around the right time for him to try again.”

“But Lottie, he’s been with her for weeks now!” Mia insisted, “She said she’s been waiting all summer to meet her and she is absolutely horrible! Even grandma hates her – you would know that is you’d picked up the phone! I called like ten times during this last week!”

Lottie cringed – she should have know that Mia would call at some point after their first week impersonating each other had gone by. It was just that she’d been out and about, doing all kinds of fun things with her family! From going shopping with her Grandma B.B. to taking a two-day trip to Disney with her Grandpa Stewart, Lottie had been having the best of times, and thoughts of her sister had practically flown out of the window!

Still, her sister had nothing to worry about. Her father’s flings never lasted long, so even if this one looked like it had lasted for a little more than usual, Lottie was sure it was nothing to worry about. She had to put her at ease and let her know that, sooner or later, the lady would be gone from her father’s life. What’s more, the fact that their Dad was looking for a partner meant that perhaps he’d be more open to seeing their Mum again! It would all work out, and Mia had to, as Americans said, _chill_.

The fact that her Mémé didn’t like the woman wasn’t a surprise, either. She never liked any of their father’s girlfriends…

“Mia, it’s alright,” said Lottie, “Don’t worry about it – she’ll be gone soon. Probably even sooner, if you start talking about Mum!”

That was something that could never come soon enough, in Lottie’s mind. Their father had so very obviously never found anybody like their mother again, so if anything was likely to drive out another unwanted (if temporary) problem, it was going to be reminding him of the one woman he’d never been able to find a replacement for!

Not that Mia seemed to know this. In fact, she seemed in such a panic that she was perhaps beyond caring.

“Lottie, I don’t think that’s gonna work this time!” she was insisting down the other end. “It’s been too long and this just...it feels different to times that aren’t gonna last!”

Lottie nearly raised an eyebrow, asking in her mind what Mia knew about times that didn’t last. Her sister wasn’t really trusting what she was saying, and she had to! There was no point in getting worked up over something that would be done with by the end of the week!

Even if it had been longer than usual. That was probably just a sign that their dad was getting better at being with someone!

All the more reason for Mia to try mentioning their mother.

But if she was going to just stay on the line and keep insisting, then she was going to need a push to get back out there.

Lottie knew an easy way of doing that.

“What...? _sss_ ” she called, before hissing wordlessly down the phone, pretending to try and call through interference. It was an easy trick that their dad had taught her. “Did _sss_ it sounds like there’s _sss_ I can’t...”

“Lottie! Lottie, are you still there?!” came the desperate reply. “We need to figure out a plan for this!”

There didn’t have to be a plan, in Lottie’s mind.

“I’m so- _sss_...it’s too much _sss_ ,” she pulled the phone away from her ear.

The last thing she heard before hanging up was the sound of her sister still calling out her name.

She left the bathroom after that, hoping to sneak out and re-join the group in the kitchen...

But as soon as she turned a corner to put the headset back where it belonged, she immediately came face to face with Fran and her grandfather.

They blinked at her oddly, and she could only stare back at them like a rabbit caught in headlights.

“Hey, Mia,” Fran spoke first. “Whatcha doin’ in the bathroom with the headset?”

“Still talking with your...friend from camp?” Stewart added.

Neither of them sounded sure, which only set off more alarm bells in Lottie’s head.

God, she’d never had to think on the spot this many times in her whole life!

It was lucky really that her grandfather had mentioned her camp story from earlier. It gave her a little bit of leverage.

“Uh, yeah,” she said, back once more to the American accent. She shifted awkwardly. “It’s, uh...camp tradition to talk to your friends...on the toilet...”

“Oh…” said Fran thoughtfully, “Ya kids come up with the weirdest stuff, let me tell ya!”

Lottie shrugged, still feeling very much in the spotlight and wanting to move on to a different subject as fast as possible. She really didn’t know what would happen if either her grandpa or Fran started making questions about this supposed “camp friend”.

“Well, I don’t know – it’s my first time camping and the older girls said this is the way things go,” said the girl, “Anyway, do you guys want to try the brownies I made?”

“Ya know it, kiddo!” Fran replied, noticeably happy and already having moved on from the whole call-in-the-bathroom issue. “They look delicious!”

Lottie grabbed both Stewart and Fran’s hands and pulled them towards the kitchen, smiling brightly – she had to distract them, and nothing distracted a person more than baked goodies. Or so her Mémé said.

 

“Come on, then! You two gotta try them! And so does Mom!”

Chuckling lightly even as he was still thinking that part of him was reeling from the phone call going on in the toilet (he was sure he would never understand young people and that went doubly for young women), Stewart followed Fran and Mia to the kitchen.

He obediently picked up a brownie from the plate as it was passed around when he got there, unable to help looking at his selection for a moment.

He did have to admit, it looked amazing...just like other baked good certain family members of hers made...

So, he took a bite.

And immediately, as the rich flavour washed over his tastebuds, he was immediately transported to the Sheffield mansion - to the kitchen, to be precise...

And he was being treated to baked good by someone else; one of those relatives who happened to be very close to Mia...

But how could he be feeling any of that?

He came back out of it as he swallowed the gooey bite, “Woah...! Mia...these brownies...they’re so...”

“So good”. He’d been about to say “so good”. But it was...weird, that they’d turned out so well - and so like the ones her own father used to make, when he’d been living in New York!

How could she have that specific recipe? Was it the way the camp had taught her to bake, or had she improvised? Was it a coincidence or had this all somehow been planned to design?

Stewart had so many questions, but he didn’t think he was going to get answers for any of them...!

He was especially discouraged to even ask, given that nobody else seemed to think that there was a problem.

“Thank God ya stopped, ‘cause ya nearly took the words right outta my mouth, Stewart! Mia, sweetie, ya’ve got a real talent fer these,” Fran said through a mouthful that became half a mouthful as her sentence went on. “I could eat the whole plate, an’ I would happily let my thighs take the consequences!”

C.C. seemed to be thinking along the same lines, “We’re gonna have to pack these up in the fridge, or I’ll just help myself to far too many! That being said, it wouldn’t kill me to have one a day with a cup of coffee at work...”

Stewart nearly frowned at them both, but held back. He didn’t want Mia to think there was something wrong with the brownies when he was just slightly concerned that neither his daughter nor Fran appeared to recognise the flavour of their treats.

They were two people who knew, better than anybody else there, what Niles’ baking was like. And yet, they didn’t look as though they’d even noticed the recipe was the same!

Maybe it was him? No one else seemed to think that anything was wrong...

Maybe it was just his own imagination...if nobody else saw a problem with the brownies, then he was obviously in both a minority and probably overthinking.

After all, how could Mia, a little girl who’d never spent time with her father in her life, possibly do a thing like bake like him? Right down the to very same recipe...

It all had to just be coincidence. The odds of everything else exactly as they needed to be lining up were astronomical!

But he had to put it all out of his mind. His granddaughter was enjoying more praise for a job well done, and it was probably best that he didn’t just stand there like a scarecrow while Fran and her mother kept going.

It wouldn’t be a good look, if he didn’t join in. And joining in would probably distract him from these lingering questions in his head...

“Yeah, you’ve got a real good thing going here, kiddo!” he exclaimed when it got to his turn. “They should start selling these at the company. We’d make a killing!”

He wondered if that had been the biggest, warmest compliment a little girl had ever gotten about her baking.

But before he could keep going and see more of the beaming smile it put on her face, a phone rang again.

Only this time, it was coming from C.C.’s pocket. It made her start when the little device’s ringtone started to play, and she fumbled around in her pocket to answer it.

“Hello?” she spoke into the phone, but all the while she was mouthing apologies at Mia for ruining what was supposed to be her moment. “Yes...why, what did they do?”

The frown that soon appeared on her face told everyone in the vicinity that whatever it was that it had happened, it wasn’t good. It also became evident that work was not done for the day, at least not for C.C..

“Can’t anyone fix it?” she practically hissed into the phone. “I just got home!”

Again, she paused, letting the poor employee at the other end of the line give his answer, which clearly was not what she’d been expecting given the scowl she was currently sporting. Stewart knew the feeling well – he was no stranger to overtime and needing to rush back into work afterhours, and quite evidently that’s exactly what his kitten would have to do.

“Fine,” she spat, rolling her eyes at whatever it was that the employee had said, “I’ll be there in half an hour.”

With that (and not giving the employee a chance to reply) she hung up and pocketed her phone. She couldn’t believe those half-brained apes couldn’t solve a simple issue without her being there, and that she’d have to give up time with her girl to clean up after other people’s messes!

But then again, this was what she had to do to provide said little girl with the best life she could possibly have. Being a single mother sometimes entailed doing things like this, and she could only hope Mia would understand…

“You gotta go back to work, Kitten?”

Even if it was all inevitable, C.C. still let out a sigh.

“Yeah,” she replied, running a hand through her hair in mild annoyance. She had been thinking about dinner and time with Mia, a bath and then some fresh pjs and comfortable sleep before the whole thing started again tomorrow. “Idiots can’t even put their own shoes on without my help, some days!”

Stewart huffed out a laugh, “I know those types...! Always end up having to whip ‘em into shape...”

C.C. nodded, but mainly kept her mind and her eyes on her little girl. This was her night that this was all cutting into, after all!

She didn’t really know how she’d make up to her for it. She’d have to take her to do something special - something that made up for the crap of having up for this stupidity going on!

She turned to her fully, crouching so that she could give her daughter a hug just before she had to leave.

She’d so lay into whoever couldn’t do their job properly at the office for this...!

“I’m really sorry about this, sweetie,” she told her. “I’ll try to get back here as quickly as I can, okay? We’ll have lots of fun to make up for it, too...”

Just as Lottie was about to reply that it was okay by her, inspiration struck. Having to go was clearly a bummer for both her and her Mum, so maybe they could find a better solution? Lottie could very well go to work with her - she'd always wanted to see what her mother did for a living.

She could only hope it didn't sound too weird to her Mum and Grandpa - the phone incident had been risky enough as it was to have something else raise the alarm.

"You don't need to apologise, Mom," Lottie said, hugging C.C..

"Oh, but I do," replied the businesswoman, squeezing her baby girl as tight as she could, "I promised you we'd have a girls’ night."

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't have a girls’ night _out_!"

C.C. raised an eyebrow, “Girls’ night out...?”

At first, her mothering instinct had wanted to ask where her little baby had heard a phrase like that. But her curiosity had quickly overcome it, and the question she’d wanted to ask wasn’t the one that came out.

And it sounded like Mia had an explanation already in mind.

“Yeah!” she cried out, excitement shining in her eyes. “Why don’t I come to work with you? We can still have our night together, but it’ll just be somewhere different!”

C.C. wanted to laugh, thinking just how different the office was to the night she would’ve planned at home. It wasn’t what she’d imagined at all - all desks and booths and metal drawers filled with files full of clients.

Their home was much warmer, and more comfortable. They could order in, and watch movies in pyjamas there...

She sometimes didn’t like to give her employees the impression that she even owned anything as soft as pyjamas, let alone wore them.

But what could she do? She wanted to spend the time with Mia, even if she did also have to go correct all the problems a jackass had just stacked in her way...

Maybe having Mia there with her would make it all the more bearable? Worth it?

She did work for her girl, and it was all for her, anyway...

“Well, I suppose there is no harm in taking you to work,” C.C. said, smiling down at her child, “You might prove useful, helping me get my minions to toe the line.”

Both mother and daughter shared a laugh. Lottie would have never imagined that she’d ever get the chance to go to work with her mother. She’d spent countless hours at her Daddy’s restaurant, just watching him manage his staff and prepare the most wonderful dishes. She wondered how different her Mum’s job was to her Daddy’s.

There was a sense of growing excitement growing in her belly, and suddenly Lottie didn’t think she could wait any longer!

“I’ll do my best, Mom!” replied the girl, beaming from ear to ear.

“Excellent. Now, go get your shoes on and we’ll be off, okay?”

Lottie took off immediately, not wanting to waste another second. She’d been dreaming of this her whole life – of finding her mother and finding out everything about her, including her job.

She had tried asking her father, but from what she could see, even thinking about it seemed to make him feel sad.

But now, she didn’t have to ask. She could see for herself, and not have to make her Daddy feel sad anymore simply because she wanted answers.

Maybe, if this all went the way she wanted, they’d both be able to sit down with her and Mia one day, and tell them everything, together...

That was the day Lottie could look forward to next. But for the time being, she was happy just to pull on her shoes and jacket, and hurry back over to her mother.


	16. Chapter 16

** Chapter 15 **

This was it, Niles thought. This was the perfect place to tell Lottie the news.

He’d been trying to find the perfect location all day. Ever since they’d gotten on the train to come down to Brighton, he’d been imagining where might be the best place to tell her that he was going to marry Kathleen.

They’d been having a wonderful time, in between his agonising about where might be best (and his mother’s sour mood, given that she knew what was coming). They’d hurried straight down from the train station, turning left and heading straight along the seafront the minute they’d reached that great expanse of blue that stretched beyond the horizon.

Lottie had practically dragged him down the nearest steps onto the pebble beach, and they’d skimmed stones on the shoreline (he didn’t really remember teaching her that, but he supposed he must have, and she’d practiced at camp) before they’d browsed the shops and stalls that sprang up for tourists on the way to the Palace Pier, buying postcards and a small necklace made of lilac stones as they did.

But the fun didn’t stop at the pier. They’d been practically assaulted by the smell of cooking sugar right from the entrance, so Niles had indulged his girl and they’d bought near enough something of everything. Ice cream cones and a bag of doughnuts were shared, before a box of fudge and some sticks of rock, almost cartoonish in how vibrant they were, went into a bag to be enjoyed later.

They’d spent ages in the arcade (Lottie had even snagged herself a little toy sheep in one of the crane machines!), though Marie had decided to avoid the noise and take some pictures outside instead. Then they’d all met up for a fish and chip lunch in the pier’s restaurant, before going to explore the funfair that dominated the far end.

He and Lottie had both laughed about how they were sure they’d only just held onto their lunches, going on the rollercoasters, sharing a cart on the ghost train, and throwing themselves around on the bumper cars...

It was a disappointment that the city aquarium closed so early, otherwise they might’ve rounded the day off there. But he consoled himself with the thought that it just meant another day out with his girl.

His little one, who meant everything to him. She’d been the only thing he’d had for so long, and she deserved so much more than having just one parent.

But he was going to change that. Kathleen could be the mother she needed. Of course, she’d never replace her real mother, but if C.C. wasn’t going to be in the picture, why should titles even matter in the first place?

They could be a family. Him, Kathleen and Lottie. Not the family he’d imagined and longed for, but a family nonetheless.

And he’d spent all day trying to find the perfect place to tell his girl that it was happening.

But, now he’d found it. The gardens of the Royal Pavilion, which had once been Queen Victoria’s favourite summer palace. The building was an oddity - completely Indian in style, with its twisting columns and domed spires, all built in cream-coloured stone - and the green in front of the front door was quiet that time of the day. Just a few other families remained there, enjoying the remains of the day.

Niles had thought about how, next time they came down, Kathleen would be with them. They’d be husband and wife, and they’d be just like any of the other families there...

That was when he’d decided it was time to explain. He’d given his mother a knowing look, that they’d agreed was the signal (she’d understood that this was something he wanted to do alone, even if she wasn’t happy about it), and she’d gone to take some more photos of the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, as well as other parts of the palace.

It’d left just the two of them, and he’d just taken in a silent breath to steel himself before beginning.

It still wasn’t going to be easy, though. It was such a big thing, he wondered where he could possibly actually start.

Did he just blurt it out? No, that wasn’t right - he had to ease her into it. It was massive news for him, it was going to be even bigger for Lottie because she was going to have to get used to the idea...

Maybe...maybe he had to tell her gently. Make it a conversation. Yes...that seemed the best course of action. And it meant that he could let go of his held breath.

“Um...Lottie?” he caught her attention and she turned to look at him. So far, so good. “What do you think about Kathleen?”

Mia very nearly froze. Why was he asking? He hadn’t asked her this before, and she’d been in England a long time now - why did it suddenly matter what she thought of Kathleen?

What had changed?

What was she going to say?

She tried to get words out, but in his own nervousness, Niles kept talking before she could answer.

“I mean, how would you feel about it if she was...around, a lot more often?”

“More...more often?” Mia replied. “Like, coming around every day kind of often?”

Niles shook his head a little, “Something like that. I was thinking more along the lines of having Kathleen stay at home, with us.”

Mia could feel knots forming in her throat and stomach. She didn’t like the direction the conversation was taking, and frankly, she’d rather jam a fork in her eye than have Kathleen stay with them. She couldn’t exactly understand why her Dad would want to have her stay in their home, either. Lottie had said that his girlfriends never stayed the night, let alone for an extended period of time.

Why was Kathleen different? And why did Lottie’ opinion matter so much to Niles?

“You mean like a guest?” Mia said, looking up at Niles.

Funny. He looked nervous. Had he been nervous before?

“Not...not exactly. It would be more permanent,” Niles said, and sighed. “I guess that what I am trying to say is – how would you feel about Kathleen becoming part of our family?”

Mia knew what that meant immediately. And she didn’t like it one bit. All of her insides screamed that it was wrong - Kathleen couldn’t join their family! Nobody as awful as her should’ve been allowed anywhere near her Dad or anybody else! She couldn’t stay, especially not how her Dad was obviously planning on making her stay!

She wasn’t going to acknowledge it. Pretending it was something else would show that Mia didn’t think of them...that way. Maybe then her Dad would understand just how much of a bad idea it was - how much Kathleen wasn’t welcome in their lives.

He’d see how much of a mistake he was making.

So, she forced as much of a smile onto her face as she could before she spoke.

“I think it’s an amazing idea,” she said brightly. “Just brilliant...!”

Her father got a glimmer of hope in his eyes like Mia had never seen before. It was breaking her heart to know why – he truly believed the horrible lady he wanted to join their family was being accepted. He didn’t know that Mia hated her, and would never accept her for as long as she was around.

“You do?” he asked, voice just as hopeful as his eyes.

Which, it seemed, would be forever. If he didn’t stop and realise.

“Yeah! It’ll be a dream come true,” Mia replied excitedly, her stomach clenching as she prayed and wished and urged for her plan to work. “I’ve always wanted a big sister!”

Her father balked for a split second, and made a noise like he’d almost choked on his own saliva. Good – that was a perfect sign. If he saw that Mia saw how old he was compared to Kathleen, he might feel weird about it all and call the whole thing off!

Then he’d look for someone closer to his own age, and her Mom just so happened to fall into that age group...

She tried not to visibly hold her breath as her Dad regained his composure and spoke.

“Sweetheart, I’m afraid you’re sort of missing the point...”

In his soft tone, Mia felt her defences starting to crumble.

He really meant it, didn’t he?

No.

No, no, no...! He couldn’t mean it! He couldn’t be letting that witch join their family, taking a place that didn’t belong to her and messing everything up for her and Lottie!

They already had a family, and she couldn’t be a part of it!

She had to stop her Dad. He wasn’t going to explain any more to her now - he wasn’t going to fight back! He couldn’t! He had to see what he was doing - Mia had to be the one to show him!

She tried again. Harder this time, and with as much insistence as could fit in the body of a child under the age of ten.

“No, I’m not! It’s so sweet of you, Dad – you’re going to adopt Kathleen!”

That seemed to just about do it for her father.

“Lottie, I’m not adopting Kathleen – I’m going to _marry_ her!”

His voice was loud. His tone was no longer gentle or caring, like he was trying to ease her into what he wanted to say. It was final, like there were no more arguments to be had.

It made Mia feel small. Like she was being put in her place – but not the place she thought she’d had. A different place, far below the one from before.

Far below Kathleen.

Because that was what was happening, wasn’t it? Her Dad was choosing Kathleen. Over her, over Lottie, over their Mom...

He didn’t want them as much as he wanted her. None of them! All he cared about was Kathleen, and whatever new, stupid family he could make with her!

Mia didn’t know when she’d stopped smiling. All she knew was that her heart felt like it was breaking in her chest, being squeezed into a pulp. She didn’t know if it would ever fill itself out again, and she didn’t know if she ever wanted it to.

She’d say that her father looked panicked (of course; she was ruining his plans by not being excited), but her eyes were filling up with tears and she couldn’t see fully.

“Lottie? Are you-Lottie!”

Mia hadn’t stayed to hear what he was about to say. She’d gotten up from the ground and taken off, towards the gate of the palace and the pubs, shops and restaurants leading to the main street. She didn’t want to hear his excuses about how nice Kathleen was, the and how she’d learn to love her...or even call her mother...

Mia would never do that, and she knew Lottie wouldn’t, either! They’d both rather die!

And if their Dad didn’t care about that, then he could go and have some new daughters with Kathleen!

He’d probably like that...new daughters that looked like Kathleen, instead of their Mom...

There was district in Brighton known as the Lanes, full of tiny, winding streets that a person could easily get lost in. Mia knew she was near it, even if the tears were blurring her vision and every part of her ached to go home...

Home to New York. Where things made sense and she had a parent who actually cared about her.

But getting lost in the Lanes would do.

Maybe she’d get lost forever, and her Dad wouldn’t even have to think about what she thought of Kathleen being his wife ever again!

It was better, than whatever she’d just left behind...

“Lottie! Lottie, come back!”

She thought she could hear it catching up to her, too, rushing after her with all the loud anger of a man who knew that his daughter wasn’t the perfect little girl he thought she was, and wasn’t going to stay that way for his new wife...

A wife she’d never call Mom.

Defiant, Mia quickly joined the pedestrians crossing the road, disappearing between the taller grownups that surrounded her as she went. She wondered if they had children, and if they were married to people who weren’t those children’s parents...

She doubted they’d done anything like keep their children apart. That should’ve told her right from the start that something was up! Her Dad hadn’t even cared about them enough to fight for both! Or to try and stay together with their Mom – to work something out!

He’d found the thing he really cared about. And she was the worst thing that had ever happened.

The Lanes were small and sheltered, but with the drawing in of the day, the stores and cafés were all closing and it was hard to hide. There weren’t many people about, and she had to keep running just to stay ahead of the calling voice that bounced off the buildings around her.

She took several twists and turns, nearly slipping on the smooth redbrick path as she went and doubling back on herself at least more than once to throw him off...

It seemed to be enough. But when she kept running, eventually she found herself coming off the bricks, back onto a real road, with cafés and boutique stores curving round and going back into the city on the left, but the buildings ahead opening out onto the seafront.

She’d made it back there by herself, without even thinking...

Taking the road ahead, she kept her eyes on the road she’d have to cross to get to the beach, where she could figure out what to do. Maybe her Dad wouldn’t suspect that she’d go back to the pier. He’d probably think that she’d just give him the runaround and then go back to the car and wait...

It showed how much he didn’t really know her.

That angry thought drove her on. Where the buildings opened out, she could soon see that the pier was back off to the left, so she stormed off in that direction.

She made her way past the hotels, the seafront stores, and crossed all the crossings to get back there. She ignored all the stalls she’d marvelled at before, not wanting any ice cream or soda, and not stopping to look at any of the pretty trinkets one stall had available.

She didn’t want a reminder from this trip anymore. She didn’t want anything, other than to go home to her Mom.

She stumbled along the pier towards the first row of covered benches, where she collapsed onto a seat. She’d run a long way, and walked just as far. Her limbs ached and her eyes hurt, and it was all for nothing!

Sighing deeply, she put her head in her hands.

“This is stupid,” she told herself aloud, not even bothering to use her perfected English accent. “I’m in over my head – I don’t care anymore! Dad can have his stupid new family with Kathleen! I’m done!”

“What are you done wizh, chérie?”

Mia gasped, twisting her entire upper body around...

To look straight through the glass at the bench behind, back to back with hers and facing the opposite side of the pier, where her grandmother was sat, having apparently been admiring the view before Mia got there.

Mia immediately tried to go back to her English accent, but she fumbled with it and the words it was supposed to make.

“Oh! Mémé! I, uh...didn’t know you were here...”

Marie walked slowly round from the other side, folding her arms as she did.

She’d heard everything, including the accent, and it was bringing back the odd feelings of suspicion that she’d had when Lottie (or, who she could only suppose was Lottie) had first come home from the camp. It was too much this time – she couldn’t let it pass, like she could before.

And she knew that neither of them would be leaving that pier before she got some answers.

“I didn’t know zhat you pronounced zhe word as “stoo-pid” when you zhought you were alone,” she said, sitting down by her granddaughter. “Now, eez zhere somezhing you wish to share wizh me?”

Mia shook her head, “No, I just–”

“Like why your appetite ‘as changed, since coming ‘ome?” Marie interrupted. “Why you came back wizh pierced ears? Or per’aps your need to make more excuses about little zhings, like zhat little toy sheep you brought wizh you? Zhat still ‘asn’t gone anywhere, by zhe way...”

Mia cringed, but she couldn’t do anything apart from let Marie continue.

“I do not understand it, chérie. Eef I knew any better, I would almost say eet was as zhough you were...”

Marie let herself trail off, suddenly overcome by a sadness that reached down deep and stabbed at her gut. She knew it couldn’t be – there was no way on Earth...not after the agreement, even if that also broke her heart and had clearly broken her son’s, too.

There had to be another explanation.

She shook her head like she was trying to toss the very thought out, “No...eet eez impossible...”

Mia looked up from where she’d been staring at the pier’s wooden boards, realising just how close her grandmother had come to speaking the truth out loud. She’d almost been completely and totally correct, with barely any trying. Just with a little bit of noticing, when Mia had gotten sloppy.

Maybe...maybe she should know, fully? Maybe she’d help, somehow...she didn’t like Kathleen any more than Mia did – why would she rat her out to her Dad? They were on the same side.

The Anti-Kathleen side. The side that might entirely want her Mom back...

And she was going to figure out that she hadn’t been wrong eventually, anyway...

She held her breath before she spoke, “Almost as if I were...who, Mémé?”

Marie waved a dismissive hand, “No one, chérie. Eet could not be.”

She had to be right, in what she thought her grandmother was going to say. She was blowing the whole plan if she wasn’t. She could be sent back to New York, and Lottie would have to come back and face Kathleen being their Dad’s wife, and their parents would never even stand a chance at something better.

But it was a risk she had to take. And it was almost as big as the one she and her sister had taken in the first place.

“Almost as if I were Mia?”

It was Marie’s turn to freeze that time, her jaw dropping open.

She...how did she know about Mia?! They’d never even met before! Mia lived with her mother, in a city Lottie had never even been to! The world was too big and two little girls were just too small to ever meet up, when two parents who lived in separate countries wanted to keep them apart.

Even if Marie still thought that the most awful and ridiculous idea that either Niles or C.C. had ever had...

“‘Ow...’ow do you-“

“We met. At camp,” Mia said, trying not to let her voice crack but failing at the overwhelming feeling of finally admitting the truth.

It almost felt good, getting it out. Like she’d just managed to drop a heavy weight that she’d had to carry for too long.

But it wasn’t all of it yet.

Marie held her breath, awestruck that fate could have brought both her girls together, in the unlikeliest of ways and places. And, from the words the girl spoke next, it was obvious that they weren’t the only two who had been brought back together by fate.

“We switched places. I...I’m not Lottie. I’m Mia.”

That was when Marie felt something burst in her heart and snap in her head at the words.

It almost caused an automatic signal to shoot through her nervous system, and she nearly half-jumped and fell from the seat. She also involuntarily let out a soft whimper. It was all she could manage – her mind had gone into some kind of cloud or fog, and she didn’t know what to do or say. It had covered everything, until only one thing was present that she  could think about.

Mia.

Not Lottie. _Mia_. She’d never have believed it before, and she almost didn’t believe it now, but what other explanation was there?!

Other people would scoff if she told them, but it had to be true. She couldn’t see any way around it that made sense! As unlikely – near impossible – as it was, Mia did live in New York and could have gone to the same camp as Lottie...

Had gone to the same camp as Lottie. How else would any of this even be happening otherwise?! Lottie– no, Mia had even told them that she’d made an American friend as well! That must have been Mia!

She had to start switching the names back the correct way, though! Lottie wasn’t Mia and Mia wasn’t Lottie. She had never been Lottie, living with them for all of that time...!

Everything...it all made sense now – the suspicious behaviour, the accent, the...the...

Stuff the sense making! What was she doing?! That was the grandchild she’d had to accept she’d never meet, or watch grow up, sat right there in front of her! She’d grown up just like Lottie – like their mother! As identical as the day they were born!

It was no wonder no one had noticed the switch! Both her grandchildren were just as gorgeous as each other!

Letting her whimper turn into a cry as tears of joy pooled at the corners of her eyes until they overflowed and ran down her cheeks, she pulled her girl – her Mia – into the tightest hug she had ever managed in her whole life.

“Mon Dieu!” the older woman cried, dropping kisses on the top of Mia’s golden head. “I…I can’t believe eet! Eet’s you… eet really eez you…”

Marie brought Mia flush against her. She simply couldn’t have her close enough! After nearly a decade of being apart, Marie didn’t think she ever wanted to let go of the granddaughter she’d spent years on end missing. Right then it did not matter that the two of them had pulled an admittedly dangerous and probably more than a little underhanded stunt on them. Right then it did not matter that eventually the cat would be out of the bag and Niles and C.C. would have to come face to face for the first time in nearly a decade.

Right then and there, she only wanted to hold Mia for all the times she hadn’t done so in the past eight years.

When she eventually pulled away to get a good look at Mia’s face, Marie couldn’t help but smile. She was just as beautiful as her sister, but upon closer inspection Marie began to notice little discrepancies between the girls – nearly imperceptible for the untrained eye, of course, but Marie had always had an eye for detail.

Honestly, it was a wonder she hadn’t noticed before!

Mia had a little scar just over her left eyebrow and she had one tiny little freckle on the underside of her jaw. Lottie had none of those…

Still, both were absolutely perfect in Marie’s eyes, and she thanked God she had been given the chance to meet the little one life had so cruelly taken away from her. It was a blessing and a miracle, all rolled into one.

“I wanted to meet Dad,” Mia said, snuggling into Maire, “And…and Lottie wanted to meet Mom! And we figured this was the only way…we just wanted to meet them and get them back together! But now…now Dad is marrying Kathleen and…and not my Mom…”

Marie broke into another loud sob, feeling pain burst across her chest. She knew it was happening – Niles had asked her to stay out of it while he told his girl. She hadn’t wanted to, obviously; she’d tried everything to be a part of the conversation, so that someone else would be there for her to turn to – someone who was on her side in all of this!

She’d even briefly considered threatening a custody battle, and going away somewhere with her granddaughter if she’d won. She’d rather have done that and then done as C.C. had and never spoken to Niles again, than let that...that... creature have any kind of say over the lives of either Lottie or Mia!

But it was over. She’d lost – they all had, and there was nothing she could do to change the future that was coming.

Niles would marry Kathleen. The girls wouldn’t get the happy, fairytale ending that they were hoping for. Their mother wasn’t the beautiful princess waiting for her handsome prince to take her home to his castle. Their father wasn’t even a knight, let alone a prince!

Kathleen was an evil witch, but that was where the similarities ended.

And, in this version, the witch had won. She’d stuck her claws in her son so tightly, he couldn’t pull himself free...

No. That made it sound like he wanted a way out. Marie knew damn well that wasn’t true - he’d done everything in his power to try and change everything else for that gold digging salope! He’d tried to force his own child to like her! He’d chosen a side, and it wasn’t even with the little girl he’d loved and raised!

Clearly, he hadn’t loved her as much as Marie had tried to make sure he would.

That was it. She was done. She shouldn’t make excuses for her blind, idiot of a son, and she wasn’t going to anymore! He wasn’t even trying to break free from Kathleen!

And hearing and knowing that Mia now knew it fully was all too much. What kind of father would drop his daughter for that? And what daughter should have to hear about it?

It was a few minutes before she got to look at the idiot in chief himself, running up the pier towards them, trying to dodge the later leavers making their way to the exit. He was bright red in the face and gasping in sea air when he finally halted in front of them.

Marie could only glare through her tears at the boy she’d raised, and instinctively pulled Mia half-behind her. Thoughts of custody battles came back into mind. Only this time she was fighting on behalf of C.C. getting both girls, and she was raging harder and with more fire than ever before...

And that was even before Niles managed to speak.

He’d spent the last ten minutes running all over the Lanes, shouting into shops and cafés, begging passersby to tell him if they’d seen a little girl running away and crying (that had required a very hasty explanation), before hurrying away to Old Steine, even more terrified of the thought of Lottie getting on a bus from one of the station stops there, before he’d realised he was right back near the pier.

It wasn’t far to walk, so he’d decided to try. Just in case she’d decided to go back there.

And then he’d spotted his girl and his mother, with relief flooding his heart.

He hadn’t meant for things to go this way! Marriages were supposed to be happy occasions! They’d all be a family – a family with a mother, like Lottie deserved to have! She had to understand that things were going to be better!

Kathleen would be good for them. Lottie would see that, it would just take some time! They needed to bond, get to know each other, and then it would be like they were never apart in the first place!

It wasn’t replacing her mother. It was just giving her another one, that she could call her own.

“Lottie...! I...you didn’t have to run off, sweetheart...!” he was still catching his breath back even as he spoke, and he tried not to squirm as his mother looked at him as though he’d killed someone. “I was...it was happy news...there’s no need for this...!”

He reached out to try and hold Lottie, but much to his surprise (and horror), the girl flinched away from him. It brought on the familiar feeling of rejection that he’d gotten when her mother had refused to have him anywhere near her throughout (and after) the pregnancy. He’d thought he’d never feel anything like that ever again, but the more he looked at his clearly distressed child and at his irate mother, the clearer it became that he’d been wrong.

It was making him feel small. Small and powerless. Just how he’d felt when he’d had to walk away from C.C. and their other child. And he didn’t like it. Not one bit. He didn’t feel in control anymore, which was something he’d tirelessly worked for.

He’d done everything to give his child and mother a good life. He’d busted his butt working endless shifts at the restaurant and learning how to invest  smartly to ensure Lottie never had to want for everything. And then, when long-lasting financial stability had been reached, he’d retired early to spend as much time as he possibly could with his child. He’d been a devoted father and a dutiful son! He’d done good by them, and marrying Kathleen was yet another attempt at making his girl happy.

Finally giving her the mother she needed but had never had…

She’d understand, one day. There was no other way around it.

She’d learn to love Kathleen, and accept that she was going to be their family now. Just like he’d learned to accept he’d never entirely have the family he wanted.

He took another step forward – it was getting a little bit ridiculous now, seeing the way Lottie was clinging to his still-glaring mother.

He was her father, he could approach her if he wanted to! He wasn’t going to hurt her, and there was nothing wrong! She just had to be told her lesson (running away for no reason in a big city was dangerous, after all) and then they could all get on with their lives! There was no need for all of this fuss!

“Lottie,” his words were slightly sharp. But not too sharp, in his mind. “Come now – I didn’t tell you anything bad! There was no need for you to run away like that! Especially when–”

“Zhat’s enough, Niles!” his mother snapped, keeping her hands on his daughter’s shoulders and making sure she was close. “You ‘ave caused enough damage for one day!”

Niles almost openly gawked. Damage?! All he’d done was take his mother and daughter for a family day out, and had then tried to tell his daughter that she was getting a mother at last! Since when was any of that considered damage?!

But before he could demand answers – he’d just had about enough of his mother interfering in his life choices – Marie pulled at Lottie, and the two began to make their way towards the pier’s exit.

“We will be in zhe car, when you ‘ave learned ‘ow to be a fazher again!” his mother practically spat over her shoulder as they left.

Niles stumbled forward a few steps after them but soon gave in, the words hitting him in the chest like  bullets. And the pain in his heart spread, along with the anger he’d felt.

Learned how to be a father again...?! He was doing the best bloody job of being a father he could! He’d given Lottie everything, and he’d put aside his own heartbreak to try and make it work with someone else, so that she could have a mother!

What could he possibly do to be better?!

Wasn’t anything he ever did going to be good enough?

 _‘Clearly not’_ said a voice in his head that sounded an awful lot like…

Like…

Niles shook his head, trying to get rid of the annoying, reproachful thought that had very nearly taken hold of him. No, he was in the right here. His mother had never liked Kathleen to start with, and Lottie would learn to, eventually. This was for her own good. This was his way of giving her a real, actual family. One that wasn’t broken or an ocean away.

* * *

 

The car ride home was, obviously, dominated by stony (and accusatory) silence. Marie and Niles weren’t talking to one another, and the only attempts either of them had made at talking had been with Mia, who’d kept to herself and given angry monosyllabic answers whenever she’d been addressed. It didn’t get any better when they eventually made it back home.

In fact, the situation became considerably worse.

Kathleen was there, waiting, smiling from ear to ear. And on her finger, Mia noticed, sat the biggest diamond she’d ever seen (except, perhaps, for the one on Grandma B.B.’s finger). It disgusted Mia, but not as much as seeing Kathleen run to her dad and press a noisy kiss on his lips.

"Hello, sweetheart! Back already?" she said before looking at Mia, almost expecting a reaction from her. "Did you have fun?"

Mia thought she could look Kathleen in the eyes and tell her exactly how much fun the day had turned out. But she also knew that if she even tried, her Daddy would jump into action to save the person he really cared about.

And that wasn’t her, was it?

Instead, she stuck her own angry look at Kathleen, and then took off to the kitchen and all the way to the garden.

Kathleen blinked at the space where the girl had just been, before turning to Marie. She was Lottie’s grandmother – she’d know what was going on, and why the girl hadn’t even tried to act like she was happy to see everybody back under the same roof.

Not that the Frenchwoman looked any happier. If anything, she looked like she could commit a murder.

She even threw up her hands and shrugged her shoulders as she marched past them, “Do not ask me. I am staying out of zhis.”

She then hurried up the stairs and soon, two doors (Marie’s and the sliding door that lead to the back garden) slammed in quick succession.

Niles felt something heavy in the pit of his stomach. Well, the way his mother and daughter were reacting should’ve told Kathleen all she needed to know about how the day had gone.

She was already getting a look like she knew what’d happened.

Slipping her hands into his, she came around to stand directly in front of him.

“I take it you told her?” she asked, smiling and starting to swing his hands from side to side a little.

Her engagement ring dug into his hand and hurt every time she did that, but he was too worn out, tired and upset to care just then.

“Yes, I told her...” he sighed, wanting to run a hand through his hair but knowing Kathleen would get upset if he let go. The last thing he needed was her being angry, too.

Kathleen pouted at him, widening her eyes as she did, “But it didn’t go well?”

That was the understatement of the century! It couldn’t have gone worse if the world had ended right at that very moment!

Lottie was acting like the world really was ending…

Niles shook his head, “She...she went ballistic! She ran away from me, right there in the gardens! She could’ve gone anywhere, if I hadn’t caught up with her...”

He didn’t look up, but he felt Kathleen’s arms snake around his neck, and she crooned to him.

“Oh, my sweetest, dearest darling...!” she lifted his chin up with the fingertips of one hand before replacing them behind his head, and she was smiling as though she knew exactly what was happening. “This is all perfectly alright and natural! You’re her father, you’re getting married; it’s the classic setup! I’d have been surprised if she didn’t do something like this!”

Was that right? Did little girls often act out this way, when their fathers got married? Was it simply a norm that he wasn’t aware of?

Kathleen sounded so confident, Niles almost didn’t silently question where her certainty had come from.

He could only suppose it’d come from some sort of childhood experience, or something that had happened to somebody she’d known.

He was willing to give the benefit of the doubt over that. It had to just be something he’d missed - an oversight, that his fiancée had managed to catch.

“You think so?” he asked.

Kathleen came in close, lightly rubbing noses with him.

“I know so,” she half-whispered, pecking his cheeks, nose and lips. She then bounced away from him, releasing his neck from her arms and smiling brightly. “But don’t worry – I’ll have a chat with her.”

Niles felt an odd sense of worry grow in his heart at that. Lottie had been so angry, all the way back – was it really the best idea for Kathleen to go, instead of him? If he’d been the one to make her so upset, shouldn’t it be down to him to make it better?

Somehow, he didn’t feel as though Kathleen talking to her was the correct approach...

Before Kathleen could head to the garden, he reached out an arm to stop her.

“Uh, Kathleen – I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think it’s quite time for you to do that...”

Kathleen waved a dismissive hand, her smile never once leaving, “Oh, don’t be such a cute little worrypot! I’ll have to do it at some stage, so it might as well be now. You just sit and relax, and I’ll take care of _everything_.”

Niles couldn’t even protest as she blew him a kiss and rushed outside. He still thought it was a bad idea, but maybe...maybe Kathleen knew what she was doing? She seemed to know everything about everything else that was going on, so why not how to talk to a child as well?

Perhaps if this worked, they’d bond? Agree to go out and spend a day, just the two of them? Really get to know each other...

He could live with that. More than live with it.

It might even bring him some peace.

But until he was sure of what was going to happen, the next best thing he had was a comfortable chair in the living room, waiting to find out how his girl and the woman he’d decided on for a fiancée were going to get along.


	17. Chapter 17

** Chapter 16 **

In Mia’s opinion, there was nothing better than getting on a swing whenever you were upset. She could spend hours on end, just swinging back and forth, back and forth…

Unsurprisingly, after the upsetting afternoon she’d had, she now found herself sat on one of her sister’s swings, propelling her little legs forward, wishing they could just touch the fluffy clouds above. Maybe it would be easier, if she could just be pulled up into the wide, open sky to fly back to her home in New York, where life made sense. She and her sister could stay with their Mom, and her father would be free to form a new family with the oh-so-pretty and oh-so-perfect Kathleen.

But again, that was just a silly dream. They’d have to swap back at some points, and as things currently lay, their plan to get their parents back together would probably fail miserably.

She’d have to speak to Lottie soon, to plan their next move, but she didn’t hold out much hope. Not when it was obvious that that witch had her claws buried in their Dad and was not planning on letting go any time soon.

The thought of her dressed in a white dress and walking down the aisle, towards her waiting Dad, made her feel weak – like she couldn’t breathe. For years she’d fantasised about her father suddenly appearing at her doorstep, ready to try and be a family again. But clearly she’d been wrong. He only cared about Lottie and Kathleen. Not her or her mom. He was happy without them.

She’d been naïve to think that would ever change.

Mia felt her limbs growing too heavy for her to swing them back and forth. She lost momentum slowly, and soon the swing was only gently swivelling back and forth.  

She felt like an idiot, for hoping it would ever change.

She should’ve realised a long time ago – she’d grown up in a place where she heard of boy and girls with bad daddies all the time. She’d just thought hers was missing, but it was clear that she’d been wrong. He wasn’t as bad as some, obviously, but he had let Kathleen in and shut his real family out.

That was bad enough, in Mia’s opinion.

And speaking of things that were bad enough, she couldn’t help noticing Kathleen padding her way over the grass towards her.

She had to hold in the eye roll that she wanted to let loose. Any slight misdemeanour in front of her future stepmother would obviously get reported back to her father, and everybody knew it wouldn’t be Kathleen who was in trouble...

“Hey,” the redhead’s voice was simpering, dripping with whatever sugared syrup she used to try and draw people in. “Mind if I join you?”

She’d sat herself down on the swing next to Mia before the girl could even reply.

Again, it wasn’t like she’d get in trouble for not respecting Mia enough to wait for an answer. It was more her house than it was either Mia’s or Lottie’s, and she was exercising her rights as the favourite person in their father’s eyes.

Mia wondered if he’d ever looked at their mother that way, but supposed she had to pay attention when Kathleen started up.

“I know, it must be rather...difficult, getting used to the fact that your father is getting married.”

Mia shrugged. She didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart with Kathleen. The sooner she left her alone, the better.

“I guess…” said the little girl.

“Oh, come on, I know it was a big shock,” Kathleen insisted, nudging Mia on the side. “I wanted your father to tell you sooner, but he wanted to wait for a little bit.”

Mia’s eyes shot upwards – so this had been a long time coming?! Her father had been hiding this…thing from Lottie for a long time! Clearly, he’d thought his child knowing  that he was getting married was not important. Mia knew she shouldn’t be surprised, but it still hurt like hell.

“I remember what it was like, being your age,” the redhead continued, “You are only a few years away from beginning to feel like a woman and from knowing what it’s like to be in love! Love is a wonderful thing, you know, and it will–”

“Uh, Kathleen,” Mia interrupted her, a little sick of Kathleen’s attempt at being this sweet-natured thing she knew she wasn’t. She had pulled the wool over her dad’s eyes, but she did not fool Mia. “I don’t mean to be jerky when you are trying to be all mushy and sentimental – but I know what mystery my Dad sees in you.”

Kathleen’s smile faltered for a second.

“You do?”

“Well, you are young and beautiful and sexy,” replied Mia, not caring to disguise the hatred she felt for the redhead next to her. She knew exactly what she was – her mom hated women like her, and had taught Mia very early on how to detect gold-diggers. She’d told her men could be like that too, and that sometimes adults did stupid things that didn’t necessarily make sense. Clearly, her Dad was under this witch’s spell, and she was not having it.  “Dad’s just human. But marriage has to be based on something more than just sex, right?”

Mia couldn’t help but smirk when she saw how off-guard her answer had caught Kathleen. She hadn’t expected that kind of answer from a little girl – a little girl she’d tried to dupe into thinking she was a kind, warm woman. But Kathleen was wrong if she thought Mia was like other eight-year-olds. She wasn’t, and she was going to draw a very clear line on the sand. She might not have the power to send her away, but she was not going to fall for her little act.

“My,” Kathleen said, chuckling, “Your father underestimates you…”

Mia dug her heels in the ground and turned to look at the redhead in the eye; she was smiling still, but there was danger laced in her deep red lips.

“But you won’t, will you Kathleen?” Mia shot back.

“Being young and beautiful is not a crime, love,” Kathleen snapped, “And for _your_ 411, I _adore_ your father. He is the kind of man I always pictured I’d marry.”

Even if the woman had obviously tried to make it sting, Mia couldn’t help but find a hook to lead with in what Kathleen was saying.  And it all hinged on how obvious it was that there was one feature she’d probably been interested in making sure she got, her entire life...

“And my dad’s money,” Mia began, watching the line become a sinker as Kathleen’s eyes flashed. With fury or shock, she wasn’t sure. But the reaction was there, and it was all she needed to know. “That has nothing to do with you wanting to marry him?”

It wasn’t three seconds before Kathleen leaned in on her own swing, suddenly looking a lot larger and more dangerous than she had done before.

Mia held her nerve, though. She’d seen bigger in New York, and her Mom had torn them apart.

She wanted to be like her – like her Mom. And that involved letting people let out their hot air sometimes.

“Alright, you’re going to listen and you’re gonna do it carefully,” Kathleen nearly hissed, just about keeping her voice from turning. “I am marrying your father in a month’s time, like it or lump it. So, I’d suggest that you stay out of my way, because you have no idea what you’re getting into. Are we clear?”

Mia wanted to scoff and laugh. She’d hit the nerve! And Kathleen was trying to cover her tracks by turning up the “I’m a Big Grownup, You’re a Small Child” routine!

But it wasn’t going to work. If anything, this made Mia want to tell Lottie even more. They had to get their father out of this, for everyone’s sake! They needed another step in the plan.

The war was only just beginning.

She leaned in towards Kathleen as well, at last replying to her question.

“Crystal.”

Kathleen looked as though she was going to puff out her chest to say something else, but another voice cut clear across whatever she’d been building up to.

“Don’t even zhink about speaking anozher word, Kazhleen.”

It was more than enough to get both Kathleen’s and Mia’s attention, as Marie stomped across the grass towards them.

She’d clearly heard at least some of what was said, and she was on the warpath.

“You may be my son’s fiancée, but you are not ‘is wife yet. You ‘ave no auzhority ‘ere. And you ‘ave to show ozhers zhe respect zhey deserve, including me and Lottie. We were ‘ere long before you.”

The last part was said as she stopped in front of them and it clearly sounded like a threat.

That immediately sent the redhead’s face into a deep, unpleasant smirk.

“And yet, I’ll be here long after,” Kathleen replied calmly.

Not that she knew Mia was already trying to devise ways of making sure that never happened. There had to be something they could do - something to make her father see that marrying Kathleen was the worst idea in the whole world!

“But, I’m bored of you both, anyway,” the redhead concluded unpleasantly, before getting up. “See you inside, future stepdaughter. Future mother-in-law.”

With that said, and with Mia aching to vomit because of what had just been said, she disappeared back into the house.

And that left Mia and Marie alone.

“Quelle connasse,” Marie muttered to herself, glaring at Kathleen.

Honestly, it was a blessing that vile thing did not know French – it’d make insulting her considerably more difficult. She then turned to Mia and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Come, Mia, you and I need to talk,” said the older woman, and Mia was more than happy to obey.

They left the house through the backdoor, not wanting to cross paths with either Niles (or, as Marie had taken to calling him, le grand idiot) or Kathleen. They needed to be alone, and Marie couldn’t think of a better place to have a heart-to-heart conversation  than a cosy café. It was lucky for them that there was one close by, so in barely half an hour, they were sat side by side in a nice booth, two warm cups of tea and slices of cake sitting in front of them.

“We can’t let Dad marry her,” Mia said, finally putting an end to the uncomfortable silence that had stretched since their little run-in with Kathleen.

“I know, Mia, I know,” replied Marie, sighing. “But at zhis point we ‘ave very few options left.”

Mia nearly let her fork clatter down onto her plate, her heart and head ready to turn stubborn in preparation for an argument. It sounded like her grandmother was giving in, and she just couldn’t believe it!

She couldn’t let it happen, either. Her grandmother hated Kathleen - that’d been obvious from the start! She couldn’t just give up the fight because it had gotten difficult!

It didn’t mean they were out of options. It couldn’t...

“We have plenty!” Mia protested. “We can get rid of Kathleen - we just have to figure something out, that’s all!”

People often said she could be as hard-headed as her Mom. Mia often took it as a compliment, whether or not it was supposed to be one.

And, had Marie known that, she would’ve both agreed and considered it a compliment. C.C. had raised her girl well - she’d made her strong, helped her grow to be smart and capable, and to always go for what she wanted...

That actually reminded Marie of a question she’d had, but had never gotten around to asking.

“What did you figure out originally? Between you and Lottie?”

Mia looked up curiously at her, face partially screwed up, like she didn’t know what Marie was talking about.

Of course, that might have been a confusing question for someone so young! It was quite broad, and didn’t necessarily have one answer.

But Marie knew how to narrow it down. She was good at having to explain things in greater detail, as though to a child, from her  interactions with Kathleen.

Only this time, she knew Mia would understand her better.

So, the older woman continued, attempting to make herself better understood, “At zhe camp, why did you decide to switch places? You did not know Kathleen zhen, so eet was not to get rid of ‘er. Did you just want to meet your ozher parents?”

She saw her granddaughter sigh at that. But it wasn’t the sort of sigh you’d expect from someone her age – not the loud, pronounced and frustrated huff of an under-ten, who barely knew what the outside world could hold in store for her.

No, this sigh sounded like a world-weary, middle-aged woman, who’d seen and done everything and simply wanted things to work out at some stage because she’d tried and was still going, but couldn’t keep on trying forever.

“No. Well, yeah – but it wasn’t just that. We wanted to see them, obviously, but we did it because we want them back together,” Mia started poking at her cake with her fork. Part of her was still wondering if this all had been a massive waste of everybody’s time. “We thought that if we switched, then told everyone the truth after a little while, they’d have to meet up to switch us back! But I never counted on...you know...”

She indicated lightly towards the door – back in the direction of the house and two people they weren’t speaking to – but didn’t really take her eyes off her plate after that.

She expected her grandmother to tell her how reckless and dangerous it could’ve been. Mia knew she would have a point. They’d each gone to a different country without an adult present – anything could’ve happened and it was pure luck that nothing had.

But Marie was past thinking about any of that.

She was too busy concentrating on what Mia had said. All of her confession, which had come from a heartwarming place – the place of a little girl who just wanted her parents, and to be a family with them...

Part of Marie (a cynical part that was never sure of anything) wanted to say about how ridiculous it was. How most people would just turn the child round and march them straight back to the airport without even warning. How it would never work...

But that was the thing.

It did work.

Or, at least, it could work. It could certainly set them up on the road for at least one real life meeting! They’d do everything they could to see to it that their girls were handed over safely – after the stunt Mia and Lottie had pulled, they probably wouldn’t want to let them out of their sight!

It was the one thing Marie knew Niles would really be longing for – longing to the point of feeling terrified at the very notion.

Without even currently realising it, he could be this close to coming face-to-face with the woman he was, even to this day, so desperately in love with that he was trying anything to replace her in his mind.

And he was scraping the bottom of the barrel to do it.

But he might not have to, if her brilliant girls’ plan worked out just the way they were hoping. It was a still a long shot, obviously, but it was better than having no plan at all.

And it made her chest lighter than it had felt since her idiot son had told her he was going to marry that salope, and he didn’t care what she thought.

It hurt less, now. And thinking of how he could, perhaps, say that he was marrying someone else instead – taller, blonder, more children with him – filled the remaining part of her heart with hope.

If it was too much hope, she didn’t care. It was worth a try, anyway.

It didn’t even matter that the plan was coming from two people who weren’t even old enough to get into a 12A-rated movie by themselves yet. With their mother’s brains and their father’s unfortunate penchant for pranks (and it was obvious these girls had inherited both in spades), they could accomplish anything.

That was certainly true,  considering how long they’d already lasted with their little scheme. It probably could’ve gone on indefinitely, if Mia hadn’t felt she’d had to confess!

If Kathleen wasn’t in the picture, that was. If that salope had never slithered and smirked her way into the house, Niles and Marie would still both have been none the wiser...

She nodded in understanding at what her granddaughter had said, “Yes...I understand, chérie. Eet eez only natural zhat you should want your parents to be togezher again.”

Mia got a look on her face like she was expecting a “but”, followed by a list of reasons as to why the only thing she really wanted in life would never be coming true.

Not that those words ever came.

“And...well, eet eez lucky I found out about you and Lottie and the plan when I did. Eet seems as zhough you will require some...I believe you Americans call eet “backup”?”

Mia’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped – was…was her grandmother saying what she thought she was saying? She wanted in on their little scheme?! They’d been working under the assumption that they were basically on their own, but having a grown-up ally opened a whole new world of possibilities. There was no certainty that they’d get their parents back together, but they still had a shot. However small it might be.

“Grandma, are you serious?!” Mia said, arms immediately shooting outwards and wrapping around Marie’s plump figure.

“I ‘ave never been more serious in my entire life, sweet’eart,” said the Frenchwoman. “Now, I zhink I ‘ave an idea to get your two dunder’ead parents to meet…”

Mia nodded, pulling away from Marie to sit ramrod straight – clearly, her attempt at taking in each and every word her grandmother would say.

“I don’t know if your fazher told you, but in five days we will all go to zhe Ritz, for a wedding re’earsal,” Marie began. “Zhe party will be zhere, and of course, zhe witch wants to make sure evryzhing is perfect and up to ‘er standards. Eef we play our cards right, we might stand a chance against the Wicked Witch.”

Mia felt a tiny bubble of laughter float upwards in her chest at her grandmother’s name calling. They both hated Kathleen so much, she was sure that hatred was strong enough to kill a giant from any fairytale. But would it be enough to get rid of the ogre in their reality? Only time would tell.

And it was all so serious enough, that the laughter didn’t go any further.

She wanted to be able to hear the rest of her grandmother’s plan.

“However, for zhis next stage, your sister ‘as to be involved,” she said, trying not to get choked up by the fact that she could be in the same room as both of her grandchildren for the first time in years, soon enough. “Just as you ‘ave told me, she must come clean to your mama.”

Mia nodded, liking how the plan sounded already. Even if things weren’t going exactly how she’d imagined they would, the basic structure of what she and Lottie wanted to do was still holding steady and that was giving her a lot of hope.

Especially now they had someone else on their side.

A someone who was just as excited to see this plan go off without a hitch as they were.

“She ‘as to let your mozher know zhat your fazher is expecting ‘er zhere,” Marie said, so into the plan that she thought she could leap up to carry it all out right away. If all of this went smoothly, her family would be the happiest it could be, and that salope would be gone forever! “And we can plan our next move, from whatever ‘appens on zheir meeting.”

Well, that all seemed...no...no, there was something in there that Mia didn’t understand. Why were they telling Mom that Daddy was waiting for her? It wasn’t true - he was marrying Kathleen, and it was obvious that he didn’t care about anybody else!

It was lucky she knew she could ask, before the whole plan was ruined by not everyone being on the same page.

“But Dad won’t be waiting for Mom,” she pointed out. “Why would we say that? It’s a lie.”

Marie, in getting caught up in the cleverness of her granddaughters’ plan, realised that she might have forgotten that they were still young and innocent. They must have grasped that some lies were good, some of the time, but it was still a learning process when it came to adults lying to other adults.

“I know, chérie. But eet eez only a _little_ lie,” she explained. “Do you really zhink zhat your mozher will come eef we tell ‘er zhat your idiot of a fazher eez marrying zhat demon?”

Oh. Mia hadn’t thought about that. Her grandmother was right – why would her mother come, if she knew her father was with Kathleen? She’d flip, but not enough to do anything about the marriage...

Well, apart from maybe demand Lottie come and live with them, if she ever heard about what Kathleen was like...but that wasn’t the plan that Mia had had in mind. Not all of it, anyway.

When it was all put to her like that, she didn’t actually think she’d heard a better, more updated plan of action.

This cut out all the worries about where the meeting would happen, could cut out how long it would happen for, and it meant their parents would be reunited in a big, romantic, fancy hotel! What better background was there?!

Well, maybe one without Kathleen in it. But they’d handle that as they went.

“I hadn’t thought about that before...but yeah, you’re right. If we do it your way, this could be great!” she declared aloud to her grandmother. “You want me to call Lottie and tell her the good news?”

That was when a little smirk began to play around Marie’s lips, and she shook her head.

“I shall do eet,” she said, not willing to pass up a quicker opportunity to have both her girls almost entirely with her. “What eez your phone number, for your ‘ouse in New York?”

Mia told her, and Marie hastily pulled out her own mobile phone to dial in the number. With a five hour difference, it was sometime in the mid-morning, so hopefully Lottie would be there to pick up.

She held her phone to her ear with baited breath, and listened to the dial tone as a phone rang an ocean away.


	18. Chapter 18

** Chapter 17 **

Lottie was used to family meals. She always had been, considering she’d been raised by two natural-born cooks. What she wasn’t used to, however, was sharing a family meal with her extended family.

Meals back in England were a quiet affair – it was just her, her Daddy and her Mémé in attendance. They’d usually eat in the kitchen, where they could easily watch Marie’s soap operas or whatever movie was playing on Sky Movies. The dining room was reserved for special occasions, such as birthdays or Christmas Day.

That wasn’t the case in the Babcock household.

Meals were a boisterous and concurred affair. Her grandfather would always be there and so would the Sheffields. Grandma B.B. didn’t always come, but she made sure to visit at least once a week. Due to his job, Uncle Noel was unable to drop by during the week, but he was always present on Sundays, when the family had a huge barbeque at Grandpa Stewart and Grandma B.B.’s place.

In Lottie’s humble opinion, Sunday BBQ’s were probably the best thing in her entire week. She looked forward to being there, surrounded by friends and family and running around her grandparents’ enormous, evergreen gardens. It was a kind of family life she’d never enjoyed from before. It was like in the movies – her sister had no idea just how lucky she was.

It wasn’t a pleasant thought to have (and Lottie certainly tried to push it to the back of her mind every time it surfaced), but she despite her current happiness, resentment was sifting quietly in her heart. She simply couldn’t make sense of their parents having willingly separated their family, robbing Mia and Lottie of the chance to grow up enjoying from their marvellous family. What had happened that they had decided it would be better for them to live an ocean away from each other?

She didn’t understand.

She wondered if this was one of those things old people say you’ll understand when you’re older, but Lottie wasn’t certain. Maybe there would be a time to ask questions, eventually, when their parents had to meet again to swap daughters again.

But for now, she was determined to have a good time. Especially when today her Grandpa Stewart had promised to take her to Coney Island for the day.

She’d been so excited, she’d picked out an outfit the night before and had left it neatly folded on a chair so that it would be ready to go in the morning. Her mother had laughed fondly at her eagerness, and Lottie had just kept on planning everything she was going to do.

It was moments like that that made her feel...not just connected to, but actually like her mother. There was something they shared, deep inside, that both loved to make plans and see them carried out. They both enjoyed challenges and loved it when things went their way. It was a kind of fun that was all their own.

But dreaming of the fun she’d have on Coney Island had led to Lottie almost staying awake all night in her excitement.

The day just simply couldn’t and hadn’t come soon enough!

She’d practically sped her way through breakfast and getting washed up, ready for Grandpa Stewart’s arrival. She wanted to be dressed, sat down in the living room with her shoes on and her jacket in her lap, bright and raring to go by the time the car pulled up outside. Every once in a while, she’d strain to hear if maybe he had turned up early, or if her mother had called her to tell her that he was there, but so far, she’d heard nothing but the occasional passing car outside and the television downstairs.

Those noises sort of drifted out of her head as she kept on getting ready, and she went through what she wanted to do when they got to the fair. She wanted to try funnel cake, with ice cream and sauces and fudge. She’d heard it was awesome from some of the other kids at the camp.

She wanted to win prizes – little teddy bears, one for her and one for Mia.

She wanted to go on the Wonder Wheel, and take pictures from right at the top. When everything was over, she’d show them to her parents and they’d all happily remember the time that led to them getting back together...

She wanted to–

The sharp _ringring_ of her phone in her pocket made her jump so badly, she nearly yelped out loud. But she just about stopped herself - she couldn’t have her Mum worrying about her, just before she had to go. It would delay the whole day!

Besides, it was probably Mia, and she didn’t want their mother coming up when she was on the phone to her sister.

So, checking her door was definitely shut, she took her demanding little device from her pocket and answered.

“Hello?”

“‘Ello, stranger. Long time, no see.”

The minute she heard the voice, she nearly jumped so hard she dropped her phone, that time. It slipped a little from her fingers as she blurted out in panic.

“ _Mémé_!”

Fumbling for the phone in the air, she just about managed to bring it back to her ear.

Her mind was racing faster that she’d ever thought possible. How was this her grandmother?! Did she know what was going on?! How on Earth had she gotten the number that Mia had given her in America?!

 _Had Mia been caught?!_ What would happen to them now?! The plan had to be ruined if her Mémé knew! That...that could mean that her Daddy knew as well! What was he going to _say_?!

They were in trouble. The both of them. They’d been caught and it was over - they were going to be returned to the parents they lived with, and...and...something bad was going to happen! She didn’t know what it was yet but she could feel it in her gut! In her bones! In her very soul!

She wasn’t going to get funnel cake (she’d probably be sick right now if anybody even tried offering her food). She wasn’t going to get a bear for her or for Mia (she might not even get to see her sister again, depending on what their parents agreed or didn’t agree). She wasn’t going to get pictures from the top of the Wonder Wheel (was she even going to Coney Island today? Or would her Mémé make her put her Mum on the phone and cancel the whole day?).

Her parents weren’t getting back together. Not if the plan had gone so wrong so early.

Not...not that Marie sounded like she was angry, when she next spoke...

“Yes, sweet’eart! Eet eez me! Surprised?”

She sounded vaguely smug, actually.

And Lottie thought her head would reel to the point where it would spin off her head and take off out the window.

What was going on?! Why did her grandmother sound so happy?! Pleased with herself, even?!

Weren’t they in trouble? If not, then why hadn’t Mia told her? If she was ready to let the cat out of the bag, then they should’ve done it together! There was no point in having a plan if they weren’t going to stick to it!

But if they still were in trouble, then it was an odd, out of character and cruel joke for her Mémé to play by pretending not to be angry...

Things hadn’t changed that much while she’d been gone, had they?

Cautiously, and making sure she kept her voice low enough that there was no chance of being overheard (she didn’t want her mother finding out any sooner than she absolutely had to), she started talking to Marie properly.

“Um...you could say that...!” she replied, eyes still darting nervously to the door. She felt like her heart might beat its way out of her chest as she practically ducked down and crawled away to the farthest corner of her room. “Mémé, what are you doing...?! How did you get this number?!”

“Your sister gave eet to me, of course!” Marie said, sounding far too lively for the situation they were in. “I must say, you two are devious and I should slap you silly for doing what you did…”

Lottie (and Mia, at the other end of the line) cringed.

“‘owever, I must also say I am razher impressed  by your nerve. You two clearly are your parents’ daughters.”  

“I…I am not sure if I should feel flattered or fear stepping a foot back in England, Mémé…” Lottie stuttered.

Marie chuckled. That was the Lottie she remembered – smart as a whip and with an unusually rich vocabulary for a child of her age. She’d always blamed Niles for that one. After all, it had been his idea to read Lottie Shakespeare’s works as bedtime stories. He’d always say that it was never too early to instil a love of the classics, but Marie knew better.  He’d brought Lottie up to be smart – outstandingly smart, at that. He’d never pressured her, but he’d always encouraged her to work hard and do her best in anything she tried. He’d always tell her that there was nothing she couldn’t do.

He’d done a good job as a parent, Marie had no doubt about that. It was unlucky that, in the love department, he was nothing but a blundering idiot.

And it was unfortunate that she had to tell her granddaughter just how much of an idiot he was, in that regard.

She never thought she’d have to tell anybody about him doing something so stupid, but well, here it went, she supposed...

“You might fear eet, but not because of me,” she told her. “You remember your fazher’s...publiceest...Kazhleen?”

Lottie felt her stomach growing oddly tight. She’d told Mia not to worry about her – or anybody else their Daddy brought home. None of them ever lasted; he just...well, clearly nobody lived up to the standards he was holding them to! None of them could ever compete with their mother - he couldn’t fill the void, or ever seem to find anybody else!

But if that were true, then why did her grandmother sound so grave?

What had happened, and how was Kathleen involved?

She gripped her phone tighter and swallowed, “Yeah, I remember...”

She could almost see the line her grandmother’s mouth would be forming as she next spoke. It wasn’t a pleasant look, especially for a woman who usually smiled so much...

“She eez to be your new stepmozher. Your fazher ‘as proposed and she accepted.”

For the second time that day, Lottie nearly dropped her phone.

And that time, she forgot all about staying quiet as she screeched, “What?!”

She had heard correctly, but she didn’t want to have heard. She didn’t want her ears to hear or her mind to think, but it was thinking and it was thinking too much and she didn’t like it. Kathleen. Marrying her Daddy. In a church. She’d have to be there, or Mia would. They’d be married and she’d probably have a baby and they’d have to look like the perfect family, her Daddy and Kathleen and Lottie and the baby and maybe Mia too, but it wouldn’t be perfect because it wasn’t their real Mum there with them...

“Your fazher is going to marry Kazhleen, chérie.”

The words sunk like stones at the bottom of a pond and Lottie felt her breathing speed up. It sped up, her lungs near working overtime, until it hurt and she slumped on the edge of Mia’s bed.

No. No, no, no – the plan couldn’t be ruined! Not like this! At least if they had found out that she and Mia had swapped, then there was a chance that their parents would talk and realise that they’d been wrong! There had been a chance that they could still love each other, and want to be a family, together, with their girls!

Now...now, there was none...and she wished that she’d listened to Lottie when she’d had the chance. They could’ve put an end to everything by now, between them, but she’d been so stupid, so willing to ignore it all for a few more days with her Mum in New York...

She’d trapped them all.

Her lungs and heart were hurting so badly at this point, and when she wiped her eyes, she realised they were wet.

“What are we gonna do...?”

She didn’t think that she’d ever sounded so hopeless in her life. If it was possible for there to be an opposite to how she’d felt when she and Mia had come up with this plan, then this was it.

It was like...being trapped at the bottom of a huge pit, with barely a hint of sunlight warming the edge, but it was too high and the walls were practically vertical, so it was too steep to reach...

She’d seen Kathleen before. She could see her now in her mind, standing at the edge of the pit. She was laughing, and she had a dirt-stained shovel tightly in her grip.

It didn’t seem possible to do anything against that, but she had to ask. And her grandmother usually came up with the best ideas.

“Usually”, as she was soon to be reminded, didn’t mean “always”, though.

“I do not fully know, chérie,” Marie said. She sounded like she might have been rubbing her eyes, or wiping her forehead. “All I know is zhat we must do somezhing. And eet will ‘ave to be bozh quick and drastic!”

She was right. It was the only way to get their parents’ attention - a huge, grand gesture or announcement, that they’d have to pay attention to!

That...that could only mean one thing. And if Mia had already let the cat out of the bag at one end of the Atlantic Ocean, then surely it was time for the two twins to be in balance?

Telling her mother everything would definitely make her shocked and panicked and anxious enough to spring into action. And it would probably succeed at getting her Daddy’s attention off the wedding as well - how could it not? She was his little girl, missing without him even realising; he’d feel so bad, he’d do anything to make up for it!

And that would probably mean paying attention to her and only her for a long time, with Kathleen being sent to the sidelines.

That put something of a smile on her face. She only hoped that it would work.

“Okay, okay,” Lottie said, her fake American accent all but forgotten as she took big gulps of air between words in an attempt to calm herself down. “What’s the plan? What do you want me to do?”

“You ‘ave to talk to your mozher,” explained Marie, “Tell ‘er zhe thruzh…”

“The truth?!” Lottie hissed into the phone, “Mémé, don’t you think Mum would, oh I don’t know, blow her bloody top if she knew what we’ve done? Not to mention I don’t think telling her dad is going to marry will be much of an incentive for her to want to see Dad!”

“Charlotte Brightmore, you watch your language!” Marie admonished – she was condoning devious scheming from two eight-year-olds alright, but she was still entitled to their respect as their elder. “And zherein lies the rub – you won’t be telling ‘er about Kazhleen.”

“So I have to lie?” Lottie said, sounding more than a little bemused.

“Not lie per se – eet’s more like _embellishing reality_.”

Lottie screwed up her face in confusion. She wasn’t quite sure she knew what her grandmother was getting at.

Embellishing reality? What did that mean? How could she tell her mother about her father getting married, without telling her about Kathleen? Wasn’t the entire point to a wedding that there were two people getting married? Kathleen was the bride! If she wasn’t an important part of telling her mother what was going on, then what was?

None of that made any sense to her. But her grandmother was never wrong - for all her life, Lottie has never found her Mémé to be wrong about anything (sooner or later, even if people had tried to prove her incorrect about something). She must’ve had a plan of action prepared, otherwise she wouldn’t be telling her what to do.

And she certainly wouldn’t have a tone of voice like she knew exactly what was going to happen next, and was very much enjoying the fact that nobody else did. It was the kind of tone that was always accompanied by the smirk that had clearly been a family trait. Their Dad had it, and Lottie had it as well - like something that had been passed down through the years.

It was a useful skill to have, really. Especially when planning the ousting of future evil stepmothers.

She let her face slowly relax again, thinking it through more.

“I see...what’s the step after that?”

“Bringing your mozher ‘ere, of course,” Marie replied matter-of-factly. “And before you ask, yes, I do ‘ave a plan for you to do just zhat.”

The older woman quickly explained what Lottie was to do in the following hours. It would have to be business as usual until the following morning, when she’d drop the bomb on her and pray she didn’t go bezerk.

“But remember,” Marie said sternly, “You are to tell her zhat your fazher cannot wait to see her again, even if zheir meeting is only to give you bozh back.”

Lottie could feel hope slowly blossoming in her heart. Yes, their plan was risky – many things could go wrong considering Niles would have no idea about C.C. coming over to the UK and there was always the fact that yes, he was engaged to be married and their mother had yet to find out about that, but it was worth the shot.

They wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if they wasted the only opportunity to be a family because of fear, and that outweighed any qualms they might have had about their grandmother’s plan.

“Don’t worry, Mémé, I got that,” Lottie said, rolling her eyes. “I’ll keep quiet today and drop the bomb tomorrow.”

“Zhat’s my girl! Now, go a’ead and ‘ave a wonderful day wizh your grandfazher. I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

“I will, Mémé, I promise.” said Lottie.

The two Brightmores exchanged heartfelt goodbyes then and, after Lottie had promised to stick to the plan one last time, the phone call came to an end.

She put her phone away in her pocket, calmed her breathing by taking in some air and letting it out slowly, and then turned for the door.

They had a plan, but it was all set. They’d see where it all went from there and then maybe...maybe...

It was getting her a little too excited just thinking about the possibility of her parents meeting! She had to focus. Her mother and grandfather would get suspicious otherwise.

She actually started to feel rather smug about it as she opened the door.

She felt like a spy, and she’d just had the closest-

The thought died in her head as the door opened fully, letting her come face to face with her grandfather.

And he had an expression on his face like he had heard everything.

If you’d asked Stewart as well, you would have found out that was because he had heard everything.

He’d known that something hadn’t been right about all of this! The baking that cake from nowhere, the...occasionally odd way of speaking that Mia (“Mia”) had and tried to cover it up, just...all of it!

Even after so many years, his instincts were as keen as ever...!

But, apart from patting himself on the back, he...had to take stock. This wasn’t his granddaughter - not the one he was familiar with, anyway. This was the girl he never thought he’d see!

Charlotte...that’s what they’d called her, before she’d gone home to London with Niles and hadn’t come back - at least, not until now.

Words couldn’t really express how happy he was to know that she’d obviously met her sister at some point, and had formed this idea in their heads to swap places (God, his grandkids were geniuses), but that didn’t mean that he didn’t get to have a little fun. Especially if there was clearly some kind of plan to get Niles and C.C. to see each other again involved.

He wanted in on that, as soon as possible.

He looked himself up and down, before cocking his head at the girl.

“Is me being stood here dropping the bomb too early?”

The little girl’s voice faltered, and though she tried to get a few words out a couple of times, they simply wouldn’t come. In her mind she’d just blown any chance of their parents reuniting. Her grandfather would probably demand that she tell the truth and then almighty hell would be risen.

She didn’t know how she was going to explain this to her sister or her grandmother. She should have known better – been more careful!

But she’d failed…

Not that Stewart would have shared that conclusion. He wanted in on this plan of theirs, and luckily for him they had a whole day to go over the plan and smooth over some hard edges. He’d always wanted his Kitten to go back to Niles, but her natural stubbornness was simply too strong. She hadn’t been really and truly happy, and maybe this was her last chance at changing that for the better.

First things first, though – he had to let his grandchild know he actually wasn’t mad. He’d be lying if he said the oh-damn-it-I-got-caught look on her face wasn’t hilarious, but he’d dragged the agony out for way too long.

“I certainly hope not,” Stewart continued, beaming and scooping Lottie up in his arms before the girl had time to react. “Because I would love to join the ranks, if you’ll have me!”

Lottie wasn’t sure that she was hearing him exactly the way that she’d thought she had at first.

It all sounded...too good to be true!

“Really?!”

The surprised tone was met with a grin from her grandfather, and he shifted her about in his arms to get them both more comfortable.

“Of course! It’s always fun to be part of a plan that nobody else knows about,” Stewart replied. He wasn’t going to tell them just how much he was looking forward to getting two kids back together – no need to get hopes up. “And, personally, I think that this might be the right way to go. You can count on me not to say a word to anybody, until I have to.”

The words exploded inside the little girl’s chest, filling her insides with something akin to both helium in a balloon and fireworks. It was joy and relief all at once, that she hadn’t let anybody down. That there was still a chance that they could get their parents together.

That their grandfather was going to help! She’d been so sure that he’d be against it – that he’d make her tell right away and ruin everything – that she’d been trying to compose a letter in her head to her sister and grandmother to say how sorry she was!

Laughing, she threw her arms around her grandfather, hugging him tightly.

“Thank you...! You have no idea how this’ll help!”

“Actually, I don’t,” Stewart said, suddenly looking serious again. “So maybe we should get going and start on all the catching up I need to do?”

Lottie nodded. After having feared that her grandfather was going to blow her cover, only having to explain the course of action planned by them and Marie was going to be a cinch. She supposed it was a matter of counting her blessings, as it was!

“Of course, Grandpa,” she said, this time using her real accent (it was a relief not having to pretend anymore). “Are we still going to Coney Island, though?”

Lottie hoped they were. She knew that the matter of her father getting married to Cruella De Vil was pressing, but she would be lying if she said that missing out on a fun-filled outing with her grandfather wouldn’t disappoint her a great deal.

Luckily for her, the smile that broke on Stewart’s face suggested that wouldn’t be the case.

“Well, I _should_ ground you for lying to us…” he started, making Lottie cringe, “But, since your lying was a means to an honourable end, I suppose my promise to take you to Coney Island still stands.”

In a complete turnaround of her feelings, Lottie thought she could’ve exploded with joy upon hearing her grandfather say that. She had never been to Coney Island and her sister said it was the most fun place in the whole of New York!

She had been looking forward to going for as long as her grandfather had said he’d take her. And she had wanted it to be a day out with him specifically - the only grandfather she still had left.

She loved her Mémé dearly, but she was nothing like Stewart. Lottie was curious to see how far that went, and how much like her grandfather she was and had been for all of her life - without even really thinking about it!

There were already some similarities peering through; him not telling on her when the truth was revealed, for one thing. Lottie thought she’d gotten that from her Daddy, but maybe she’d gotten it from both sides of her family?

Maybe both had more in common than they realised, and not just the girls that they were still trying to keep from each other...

And even though she wasn’t the granddaughter he was used to having there, Lottie was relieved that he wasn’t planning on treating her any differently.

Before she’d even spoken, she’d launched herself into her grandfather’s hold, burying her face against his clothes and holding on tight.

"Thank you," she said, her voice muffled. "It means a lot."

Stewart chuckled. Oh, he sure knew that! For her this wasn't just a day out at an amusement park – that was what this would have been for Mia, who'd had years' worth of days out with him and B.B.. But Lottie...

Well, this day out meant bonding with a part of her family she'd thought lost. He'd have to be a monster to take that away from her. He wasn't a monster, and he loved the little girl more than life itself, just like he loved Mia.

"I know," he said gently and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Now, what do you say if you go get your shoes on, Squirt? The limo waiting outside has been waiting long enough, don't you think?"

Giggling, Lottie rushed downstairs with a sunny feeling in her heart. She'd found an unlikely ally! She was going to Coney Island! They had a plan to get their parents back together!

Maybe things were really starting to go their way at long last.


End file.
